CORPSE
by CloseToSomethingReal
Summary: Homicide cop Lalna Lividcoffee is faced with with a new case. Starting with the murder of a friend of his friend. With the help of an untrustworthy 'civilian consultant', he and his detective, Kim, have to try to catch a criminal with a very twisted mind. But the body count just keeps rising... and the methods getting worse, the victims more persona... Zoethian, NanoCoffee, Echoble
1. Chapter 1

**Sorry, super loooonnngggg author's note here, but this story demands a big explanation. This is a real-life AU, where they do live on Minecraftia, but it operates a lot like Earth, okay? It's a murder mystery, for two reasons:**

**1) I read a lot of murder mysteries recently. J. D. Robb's In Death series? Has finally brought me to tears.**

**2) I read a lot about Greek mythology, back when I hadn't gone to the library for a while and I think I was banned from electronics too. So, I read Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, and decided to make a story where all the deaths were **_**based on Greek Mythology. **_**That's right. These all happened in mythology. Except for this one, I have mythological proof I can put at the bottom of each chapter where I kill someone.**

**(BTW, I read a lot more In Death and Manga now! Just finished Fullmetal Alchemist. I hate endings.)**

**No playlist, cuz I didn't make one. Loads of Linkin Park, Fall Out Boy, and MCR.**

**Disclaimer: Um... the Yogs own their characters and stuff like that.**

**WHO DID YOU CALL A MINIATURE PLANKTON-FLEA-SIZED ITTY-BITTY LITTLE BEAN? (Yeah, that's Fullmetal Alchemist. Guilty as charged.)**

His phone was beeping. He sighed, grabbing it off his dresser and pressing talk without checking who was calling.

"Police dispatch: A body has been discovered in apartment 11, 33 Maple Street. Lieutenant Lividcoffee, please report to the scene."

"Who's there? And who's dead?" Lalna demanded.

"Detective Nanosounds is present already, with Officer Smith and Officer Williams. She requested that you be called in. The report was made anonymously, and EDD can't seem to trace the number. The victim has been identified as Clarke, Tom, better known as Sparkles*." The voice sounded bored and used to bringing such news.

"Shit. Tell the detective I'll be there in five minutes, okay?" He snapped, throwing on a pair of pants and a shirt before struggling with his boots. What time was it anyways? He threw a glance at the clock. 7:30. Damn, this was what he got for sleeping in a bit. No time for breakfast, he'd just have to drink some coffee after he took care of this thing.

He'd known Sparkles*, and was seriously not looking forward to notifying the next of kin. Then again, he never was. How could you tell someone that their lover, son, friend... was dead? Especially when you knew who you were talking to.

Actually, he'd never met Sparkles*' parents, but he'd met his girlfriend, Beckii, a few times. She was nice enough, but didn't live in Tekkit-Topia.

_ Thank Notch. I can just call her. _He thought, jumping into his car and driving off towards Maple Street. Almost immediately, he felt guilty. That was an easy way out. One that he shouldn't be tempted to use.

However, in this case, he couldn't very well fly to wherever Beckii lived.

It was raining a bit, looking like fine mist on his windshield. He turned on the wipers and kept driving, wanting to be on scene before the others ruined some sort of evidence, which had been known to happen.

Damn rookies.

He didn't need the address to the apartment block. The commotion around it was enough. The press was already there, with channel 6's number one reporter, Strippin, on scene and waiting for an update.

"Get out of my face. I haven't even been on scene yet." He growled, scowling at the man. Strippin smiled good-naturedly.

"You won't tell me anything anyways!"

"Damn straight." He agreed, and walked past the reporter towards the door.

The landlord was waiting for him. "Who might you be, sir?" Lalna shoved a badge in her face.

"Lieutenant Lividcoffee. I need to see the crime scene." The landlord smiled.

"Your detective said you'd be here soon, and to lead you to the scene. Right this way sir!" He followed the large woman to a door, already taped off. _Crime scene! _Read the yellow tape. Lalna ducked under it and walked towards detective Nanosounds, who he could just see around the doorway to what he presumed was the living room.

On the floor lay the sprawled out figure of his friend, with rope burns around his neck, and a slightly blue face.

"I'm no medical examiner, but I'd wager the COD was asphyxiation. Killer used a rope, I'd say Mr. Clarke put up a bit of a fight, due to the rope burns around his neck. Call in an examiner anyways, I want a toxicology, just in case. If it weren't for the fact that we're missing a noose, and he's on the ground, I'd say it was a suicide." One of the officers ran off to do that. Kim, or detective Nanosounds, looked at him.

"It's harder when you knew the vic, isn't it?" He nodded.

"We'll catch him though. We always do. That's all we can do for him now. Estimated time of death?"

"He's cold, Lalna. Judging by size, it's probably been a few hours. The ME might have more." The short girl told him.

"Thanks. What evidence have you got?" The blond asked, pulling on a pair of gloves from his pocket and crouching to get a better look at the man. Other than his blue-tinged face, due to all the deoxygenated blood that would have been denied passage back to his heart and the red, worn off patches of skin around his neck, there was no evidence of injury. No blood, no bruising, nothing. His eyes were bugged out, which was normal when it came to suffocation.

"I've got an officer dusting for prints now."

"Okay. I'm confirming this as a homicide. I'll report to the captain as soon as possible."

"Will you be taking primary, sir?" Kim asked.

"Yes." Something flashed in the corner of his glaze. Something had moved. His hand moved to his weapon.

"Nanosounds? Did you see that?" He hissed.

"What?" She replied.

"Stay there. Keep your hand on your weapon." Whatever it was in the corner of the room had moved again. Lalna walked up to it cautiously, holding onto his weapon. Just as he got close enough to move the curtain, someone leaped out from behind it and took of running towards the door. Forgetting his weapon, the lieutenant tackled him to the ground, pinning his arms and leg to the floor.

The man twisted and fought against Lalna's grasp, but he held tight. Kim pointed her gun at his head.

"I'm unarmed, detective Nanosounds. You really want to shoot me?" He asked. His voice had a thick, musical accent. He was wearing a white coat with purple trim, black pants and burgundy boots. The ends of a scarf rested against his back.

"Kim! Give me some restraints! I don't have any." He used his knee to hold down the man's right arm, and grabbed the pair of handcuffs the woman handed him. Then he locked them around the man's wrists and hauled him to his feet.

"What is your name?" He demanded.

"Rythian." Rythian was a few inches taller than the lieutenant, with a small frame and intense eyes. The black scarf he had noticed earlier was tied around the bottom half of Rythian's face, covering his mouth and nose. His hair was dark, with a lighter blond streak on the left side.

"Surname?" Rythian gave no response.

"Fine. I'll find it. Rythian, you are under arrest for trespassing on a murder scene, and as a suspect for murder. You have the right not to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely in court. Anything you say may be given in evidence. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?" Rythian nodded.

"I don't require an attorney." He may have smiled, though it was hard to tell. "And I have an alibi for when Sparkles* was killed."

"We have no confirmed time of death."

"I do. It was between the hours of eleven and midnight." He replied.

"How do you know that?" Kim demanded.

"You'll have to find out later."

"Fine by me. I'll hold an interview at-" He checked another clock. Damn, he should just get a watch. It was eight thirty. "12 hundred hours. Or noon."

"I know the military clock."

"Good! I hope your alibi is secure. You'll be kept in police custody until your interview. Officer Smith, take him the station. If you'll excuse me, I have a report to make, next of kin to notify, and a few things to check out." He walked back off towards the exit.

**Okay... So Rythian's a criminal? What have I done? (No actually shit help me I don't know what I did.)**

**~ A very confused and worried Featherflower**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! I'm back! THIS ONE'S GONNA HURT, DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU!**

**To EndingFury (Guest): 1) Don't pick up habits from Spirit. 2) Thanks!  
To (Guest) : Thank you! I intend to keep writing.**

_Hey there, you've reached Sparkles*! Sorry I missed you, leave a message! If you're selling anything but crack, FUCK OFF!_

_Record your message at the tone. After recording, you may hang up or press pound for more options._

Beckii sighed and locked her phone. She'd already left a message. She did the math again, and checked that it wasn't some outrageous hour in Tekkit-Topia, but found that it should be about 10... Sparkles* hadn't mentioned being busy today, but maybe something had come up.

She stuck the phone back in her purse and walked out on to the busy street. She was going to visit her parents, something she hadn't done recently. The sky, despite it being September, was blue apart from a few puffy clouds, and it was nice enough for her to walk.

Hopefully, Sparkles* would answer before she got there, and her phone wouldn't go off in the middle of a conversation with her mom. It had happened before.

However, the only time the dark haired girl heard her phone go off was when Kaeyi text her to say hi, which Beckii decided to answer later.

The air smelt strongly of the sea, which was one thing she always missed while she was visiting Tekkit-Topia. The scent was sort of relaxing, and the area was calm for a change.

A few minutes later, she was knocking on the door to her parent's apartment. Her mother answered.

"Beckii! You know you don't have to knock." She chided. "Come on in? How're you doing? Did you get plane tickets to Tekkit-Topia yet?" The lady moved out of the way of the door and her daughter stepped in.

Beckii gave her mom a hug. "Yeah, I'm leaving in about a month, and staying for two weeks." She replied, pulling off her shoes and walking into the kitchen.

"Are you staying for lunch?" Her father asked.

"Only if you want me to!:

"Of course we do." He replied, smiling at her.

The family had just settled into the living room with some tea when Beckii's phone rang. She went to turn it off, until she saw the caller ID.

_TTPSD_

The Tekkit-Topia Police and Security Department?

"Take it, if it's important." Her mother urged. Beckii pressed talk and put the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" She said, slightly worried.

"Hello. Are you miss Beckii Cruel?" She thought the voice was mildly familiar, but didn't know why she would recognize a Tekkit-Topia cop.

"Yes... why? Who are you?" Her palms were starting to sweat. Had something happened to Sparkles*?

"My name is lieutenant Lividcoffee. Call me Lalna, I don't really care. I'm sorry to be calling. Anyways, this is about Tom Clarke?"

"Sparkles*? What happened to him? I told him to pay the parking ticket, and I promise that his phone's message is a joke. He don't actually do crack, er- sorry, cocaine."

"I know the street name for cocaine, miss Cruel. And I know that. I've met Sparkles* on many occasions. I'm afraid I'm not a traffic cop, or substance. Miss Cruel-"

"Beckii."

"Beckii, if you haven't already, could you sit down? It's better if you do."

"I'm sitting." She whispered.

"Beckii... I'm a homicide police. Sparkles* was found dead in his apartment this morning." He paused. Beckii's throat went dry, and she started to feel sick. She had no doubt for what Lalna was telling her. The police wouldn't make a mistake on an identity.

"Beckii... are you alright?" She finally remembered where she'd heard that voice before. Lalna had been a friend of Sparkles*, thought his voice was choked up now.

Her throat felt thick and silent tears were running down her cheeks. Her mother said nothing, just gave her a hug, running her hand comfortingly up and down her daughter's arm.

Her father looked ready to kill someone. He must have thought it was Sparkles* on the phone.

"I- I- I'm okay, Lalna. I'll get some new plane tickets and come as soon as I can. How are his parents?"

"We couldn't get in contact with them." He admitted.

"How's the gang?"

"We're holding up okay." He muttered. "Kaeyi and Martyn aren't doing great, but we'll be okay."

"How'd it happen?" She asked, not sure if she was allowed to be told, or Lalna was allowed to tell her.

"He was strangled, from the looks of it. I'm no medical examiner, but it was pretty clear." He replied. "Listen Beckii, I've got to go conduct an interview."

"Nah, he's alibied, and won't give me a surname, but I'll find it. Actually, I'm gonna look him up right now. There he is. Lets see... of fuck. He's fucking wiped the files. Shit. Okay, anyways, sorry about that. You sure you're okay?"

"I'm okay." She lied. The lieutenant needed to get some work done, and talking to her was only slowing down the process of solving this case.

"Then I'm really sorry, but I've gotta go. Thank Notch the guy didn't ask for a lawyer. I fucking hate lawyers. I'm gonna catch him, Beckii. Kim and I will get him. Of her."

"Thank you." She hung up the phone.

"Beckii, what happened?" Her mother asked.

"I've got to get to Tekkit-Topia. Sparkles* was found dead this moring." She whispered. "That was Lalna. He's a lieutenant."

Her father asked for some passwords and went to exchange her flight tickets for earlier ones.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Her mother asked.

"His parents don't know yet." She blurted. "They didn't answer the phone, or the door. They don't know their son was murdered." She muttered.

Her mother couldn't hide her shock. "It's okay, Beckii. Let them enjoy their ignorance for a while. They'll learn soon enough." Beckii sobbed. She'd lost her boyfriend. The Clarkes had lost their _son._

**I told you it was going to hurt... sorry for using Sparkles* real name, I know I shouldn't and I'll avoid doing that as much as possible.**

**~Featherflower**


	3. Chapter 3

**Surprise, surprise, the kitchen's full of shit!  
~Sjin**

**Last update on this story for the rest of the summer, I'll be at my wifiless cottage the whole time. I will try to have the next few chapters typed for September, but I said that last summer with a different story, deleted the chapter by accident, and still haven't updated. (I won't do that I have these written out up until chapter 6 or 7)**

**~Featherflower, signing off!**

"So, Rythian Enderborn." Lalna smirked at the man's narrowed eyes. There were dark bags around them, like he hadn't slept in a week. Rythian's irises were a startling lilac, something that couldn't be natural.

After his initial shock, he resumed a cool, bored expression. Kim, standing beside him, frowned at his ease.

"How do you know my full name?" He demanded, in a low and even tone. "I don't tell people my surname." He seemed frustrated with Lalna's discovery.

"Does it matter? You've whipped your files, or someone did! I know nothing about you but your name! Anyways, I have to start the interview. Record on." He pressed the button on the recorder. "Lieutenant Lividcoffee, Lalna, conducting an interview with Mr Rythian Enderborn, a suspect of the murder of Thomas Clarke. My assistant, detective Nanosounds, Kim, is present. Mr. Enderborn has waived his right to an attorney, correct?"

Rythian gave a curt nod. "That's my father's surname. I don't use it. I don't have one, as far as I'm concerned." He told the blond.

"Rythian, the recording cannot detect nods. Please answer the question." Kim said, rather calmly.

"Yes, I waived my right to representation." He snapped. "Now, I have an alibi for last night. You can't keep me here as a suspect."

"I have to check your alibi. What is it? Where were you between 23 hundred hours and 24 hundred hours?" He only paused a moment to figure out what time those hours were on the twelve hour clock.

"Between eleven and twelve last night, I was at Ravs' pub, the Crooked Caber, with Zoeya, Nilesy, Ravs, Martyn and Kaeyi. I still have to receipt in my jacket pocket. May I remove it from there to show you?" Damn, he knew his shit. Technically, he couldn't reach into his pockets or remove his hands from the table without our permission.

"Yeah, go ahead." Lalna told him, and he slowly reached into his pocket and brought out a slip of paper, and handed it to the lieutenant. He checked the times carefully.

"You didn't do it." He admitted. "I knew it the moment I saw you. You didn't do it."

The former suspect showed no emotion to this statement. "Can I ask what I have been charged with, if murder isn't it?" He asked, tone clipped yet still pleasant.

"Trespassing on a murder scene." Detective Nanosounds answered. "How did you know? Did you know? Why were you there?"

Rythian's jaw visibly tensed. That reminded me. "Your mask should be off."

"Good luck." He replied stiffly. Kim had clearly pushed him to a subject he didn't want to be on. "I knew. I could tell that someone had died there, and it didn't take long to figure out that it was Sparkles*. Why was I there? To catch the one who did that. I knew the vic, and his girlfriend, Beckii."

Now Lalna was frustrated and confused. He didn't press any further on the mask thing. The air had become tense. Rythian's voice was as clipped and formal as ever.

"How were you going to help us catch the murderer?" Kim demanded.

"I've got a couple of aliases. Ever used a civilian consultant?"

"What aliases?" Lalna hissed.

"Let's see… recently? Griffin Sommers, John Waters, and a few others. However, I assure you that Rythian is my given name." He replied.

Lalna knew the cops who had worked with those aliases. He decided to talk to them later.

"How did you help by poking around crimes scenes? The police know how to check for evidence!" Kim sounded a little put out with the arrogant man.

He answered, but the recording would never catch it. He didn't say it out loud.

/I have some extra talents./ His mouth didn't move, from what Lalna could see. Damn, that mask was annoying. Rythian also may have been smirking, though the shadows remained around his shockingly purple eyes. They seemed familiar, come to think of it. Lalna could remember from where.

Then he realized something else. Purple eyes and the surname of Enderborn? This man was undoubtedly an endermage.

/You are correct, lieutenant Lividcoffee./

"Gah!" The lieutenant yelped. Rythian pressed a finger to his cloth covered lips.

/Be quiet. I don't want this on the recording./

Though he didn't know why, Lalna obliged. \Get out of my head!\

Since she wasn't directly involved, Kim was a lot calmer about this all. She let out a low whistle. "Wow."

Lalna reached forward to touch the record button. "This interview is now concluded. Rythian is innocent of said charges. Record off." He tapped the button. "Good thing I won't need that later, because that ending was shit." He muttered.

"Can I go?" Rythian asked. "Zoeya will be wondering where I am."

"Almost. Rythian… would you be willing to be a consultant for this too?" Lalna sort of surprised himself by asking that.

"Fine." The former suspect replied, not seeming surprised by the request.

The police officer sighed. "Rythian, you need to tell me a bit about yourself. I know almost nothing!"

He frowned. "You don't remember me. Why would you? I was just another kid a year younger than you, and I'm sure I'm not the only one you did that sort of thing to. My name is Rythian Enderborn. You know who I am. Need more? Look up my mother, Iris Enderborn. You'll find plenty." Rythian left as the memories of a thin, six year old boy came back to Lalna.

The lieutenant didn't notice how visibly upset the new civilian consultant was. But the detective did.

"Lividcoffee. What did you do to that man?" She demanded.

"Oh Notch." Lalna's mouth barely moved. His throat had gone dry. "Rythian… I'd forgotten who he was…"

"Excuse me, what's going on?!"

"I do know him." He realized. "He was a strange kid. My old, former friends, Sips and Sjin, and I, we used to pick on him. It was kinda funny, until one day, he just… disappeared. No one knew where. Because of what had happened to Rythian last time I saw him, I'd assumed he'd died. The last thing that had happened to him that I knew of was Sips and Sjin beating this shit out of him. He never really cried though. I wasn't partaking this time, and he just stared at me, the whole time, with those weirdly purple eyes! I thought he was dead. I thought he was dead. Oh Notch. I've got to go look up Iris." He walked out of the room, leaving his detective to puzzle over what he'd just said.

He got to his computer and typed in the name. Iris Enderborn. A picture of a young woman with severe bruise on her face and chest appeared. The records said she'd been beaten to death. Broken wrist, forearm, six ribs, right leg, severe internal bleeding, shattered cheekbone, cracked skull.

"Yikes." He muttered, checking the rest of the file. "Overkill."

Spouse: Richard Enderborn  
Offspring: 1. Sex: male. Name: Rythian Enderborn- Current age: 26. DOB- 1988, December 31.

There he was.

Iris: age at death: twenty-nine

She'd been murdered back in July of 1995, when her son had been six years old. Rythian had stood as a witness, claiming his father had done it, but there had never been enough evidence. The case was still open, after twenty years.

Curious, Lalna typed in the husband's name. Richard had disappeared in 2005, when his son was sixteen years old.

Could it have been his justice-seeking son? Rythian seemed capable of murder.

It was time to bypass the law a little and go a bit deeper into Rythian's "wipped" files.

There really wasn't a reason why Lalna wasn't an EDD cop. He'd be the bearer of much less bad news.

He typed in the man's name yet again.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N my two months are up and here is my chapter! I used copy-n-paste so sorry if the format is out of whack**

**~CloseToSomethingReal (Formerly Featherflower)**

**Out on the verge of the rest of our lives tonight, top up the world and we're dressed to the nines tonight**

**~Owl City feat. Aloe Blacc, Verge**

He walked quickly out of the police department, trying to ignore the tears burning his eyes. They always came when he thought about his family.

He didn't go straight home. Zoeya was waiting for him, but he needed a chance to breathe. And he didn't want to talk about this.

He's said enough about himself today.

Instead, he wandered around the block, breathing in air that smelled of polution and grease.

Then he finally decided it was really time to head home. He should have texted his girlfriend, she'd be worried sick.

Had he even told her where he was going this morning? He knew he hadn't told her he'd been arrested.

"Shit." He muttered, realizing he really should have gone straight home. He checked his phone.

New text message! 5m "Rythie? Wher…"

New text message! 30m "Rythian, what…"

New text message! 1h "Rythian, you sa…"

There were a few more, all resembling each other.

"Oh Notch. I'm so sorry, Zoeya. I'm about 20 minutes away." She didn't answer, and he kept walking, trying to get back as soon as he could. The sting from earlier had worn off, and he was a little more ready to face the red haired girl.

Also, he was starting to get a little hungry and didn't have any money on him.

She was waiting outside, sitting on the steps. She didn't look particularly angry, just worried.

"Why didn't you answer me?" She asked, standing up and giving him a hug.

"I got arrested and couldn't." He admitted. A series of emotions danced across her face, ending in shock.

"For what? What did you do?"

"Well, I'm sure you heard about Sparkles*. I went to investigate, and got caught." She ran a hand along to tense muscles in his back.

"I heard about Sparkles*, yeah. But that's not all that happened to you today. What else happened? I thought we weren't going to hide things from each other anymore!" She frowned and pulled down his mask. "Stop wearing that." She muttered.

"I'd rather not, and you know me too well." He muttered, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I knew the lieutenant. From school, before I left to get away from my father." She asked the next question, even though his tone made the answer obvious.

"First of all, I should know you. We've been dating for two years. And was it good or bad?"

"Bad." He replied, voice shaky and sad. "Really bad."

He followed Zoeya into the house, which smelled strongly of cheese, and upon realizing that, Zoeya ran off to the kitchen.

"I started making lunch when you texted!" She explained. "It's grilled cheese, as you can probably smell. I think I burned it." He smiled.

"It smells great." In spite of their agreement to tell each other everything, he didn't mention his agreement to be a consultant. He didn't want to scare her, and she'd freak out if she knew he was working with the police again. She really didn't like it when he did that.

So, it was kinder not to mention it. He shrugged off his white and purple coat and hung it on the hook by the door. As he walked in, Rythian tripped over the little brown tabby cat they'd adopted, and sighed. "Hello Barry." He muttered, reaching down to scratch behind Barry's ears. The little cat purred.

By the time he got into the kitchen, Zoeya had gotten the sandwiches onto plates. They ate a quiet lunch, Zoeya seeming very reassured that her boyfriend hadn't been killed.

Rythian hadn't had that fear. The murderer wasn't dumb enough to strike again quite yet.

"You seem distracted. Rythie, is something wrong?" He faked a frown, though his gaze showed amusement more than anything.

"No, just thinking of how glad I am to see you after a day of pushy questions." He replied.

She smiled, and he got up to do the dishes. They had a sort of agreement, one of them would cook, and the other would wash up. He enjoyed menial tasks, as well, they gave him time to think.

Once he was finished, he walked towards his office, so to say a room with a desk and a laptop. He hated technology, but over the years he had come to accept that this world was quite dependant on it.

And it was a lot easier to hack into computers than steal paper records.

So he logged on, typed in a few names, and got to work. The cat hopped up on his lap, clearly hoping for more attention, which he got. It was an easy rhythm to pet Barry and read through files.

Clarke, Thomas.

DOB 2/24/1989.

DOD 9/5/2015

Investigation- In progress.

Former employment: song artist, vocalist of Area 11 with Kogie, Jon; Taylor, Leo; and Parv; Alex.

The band members… they were definitely up there on the suspect list. Rythian wondered if he had a number for the lieutenant. He needed to know where Sparkles* had been the night of his murder.

He didn't have a phone number for Lalna, however he found one for the Tekkit-Topia Police Department and after a few threats, was connected to the lieutenant.

"Who is it?" The man demanded, sounding annoyed.

"Rythian. Either update some files of fill me in on some info about the vic." The mage was rewarded by a slight hitch in his childhood tormentor's breathing. He'd struck a nerve this afternoon.

"Rythian? What you do mean, files? Civilians don't have access to the files!"

"Fuck that. How do you think I cleared mine?" He scorned. Barry clearly didn't like Rythian's tone, because he hopped off the mage's lap and ran out the door.

"That's against the law, Rythian." Good thing you don't know about my father, the Endermage thought to himself.

"I know that. Zoeya tells me that regularly. Now: I need to know where Sparkles* was last night." As though summoned by her name, Zoeya poked her head into the room. The cat was cuddled in her arms.

"What was that? Who're you talking to?" Rythian covered the microphone of his phone with his hand.

"Parv." He regretted how easily he lied to the girl he loved. But he didn't want her to worry.

"Tell him I'm sorry about Sparkles*." She told him and left.

"Who was that?" Lalna asked.

"My girlfriend. Answer my question, please."

"Sparkles* was at a gig last night, with the rest of Area 11. That enough?"

"Yeah! I'm off to dig through more files." The mage smiled as he said that.

"If you get caught…"

"I have a solution to that. I won't get caught. Thanks! Oh, also, do you have a number I can use to avoid making death threats in order to talk to you?" Lividcoffee rattled off a number, which the dark haired man jotted down.

"See you around! Bye!" Rythian hung up the phone, and started punching in more names.

**Barry was added because I was writing with my own cat, Cindy, on my stomach, and decided they should have a cat.**

**I might have grown up in a barn, but I can bring down the house!**

**~Dean Brody, Bring Down The House**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N these chapters were written on paper long before the summer started and I was just too lazy to type them all out.**

**~CloseToSomethingReal**

**Is everybody going crazy? Is anybody gonna save me?**

**~Simple Plan, Crazy**

The surface of Rythian's files were empty. He'd done a thorough job of clearing them. It had taken Lalna 3 hours, more coffee than he cared to admit, a few curses, and quite a few codes he wasn't supposed to know in order to find them.

Nothing could ever truly be erased.

Even then, the results were minimal at first glance. Rythian had been raised by his father after the age of 6, after his mother was killed. He'd disappeared at ten.

In those four years, he'd suffered many severe injuries. The joint of his left leg had been fragmented and reconstructed, several ribs broken, and right wrist fractured. A few more were documented before his mother's death as well.

All were classed as accidents.

Why had Rythian tried so hard to hide this? Unless there was more…

Of course. At 16, he'd reentered the system, bruised and battered once again. His hands and wrists had been slit several times, nose broken and elbow snapped. Once he'd been treated, Rythian had been questioned about the disappearance of his father, who had vanished before after his son had reappeared. The subject had eventually been dropped due to lack of evidence.

Lalna wasn't sure that should have been the case.

After that, (and before the records had been cleared and stopped being edited) Rythian has never had a smidgen of trouble.

"Okay… I've spent enough time searching Rythian's records. Time for a background check on Sparkles*."

He had minimal medical records, and other than some parking tickets and a DUI, no criminal records past the age of 18.

"Who wanted you dead?" He muttered. "Or was it just by hazard? He didn't tigger any alarms, and the fucking apartment doesn't record anything, so we have no leads but for fingerprints, possibly." It didn't seem like an accident.

The detective walked into his office. "I pushed for a toxicology, ME says there was a bit of alchohol, but not too much. Last meal was at 6:30, nothing strange. Also, he said to stop wasting his time. COD confirmed as asphyxiation by strangulation." He sighed.

"Any prints?"

"Just the vic's. Well, other than smudged, old ones from the parents and the band. Oh, and Martyn and Kaeyi."

"Damn that guy was good!" Lalna cursed. "Just like all the rest of them."

Kim nodded in agreement.

Just then, an annoyed looking woman walked in, holding a phone. "Someone would like to speak to you, Lieutenant, and won't take no for an answer."

Lalna accepted to phone and put it to his ear. After this, he'd try the Clarke's apartment and phones again.

"Who is it?" He asked, though he had a good idea of the caller's identity.

"Rythian. Either update your files or give me some info on the vic*."

Files? This was going to be an interesting conversation.

He was right about that, but to his surprise, the lieutenant wasn't very frustrated by the end of it.

"Ready to try again for next of kin?" Kim asked.

"I'm never ready. Let's go." He replied, grabbing his keys. They walked out to Lividcoffee's car and drove the ten minutes to the Clarke's apartment.

This time, they answered. And Lalna and his detective got to watch them fall apart as they learned their son had been murdered. They didn't take it well, and Kim took over comforting them since Lalna was terrible at it.

"Okay, Lividcoffee. Get us out of here, someone who knows them can take over now." Nanosounds muttered.

"And I'm tired of tears for today." Lalna added. "Get in the car, you're driving." They hopped in. "Hopefully Rythian's got something for me."

Kim glanced from the road to the blond. "Have you got anything on him?"

"Plenty, compared to this morning. His name's Rythian Enderborn, obviously. His dad raised him after the age of six, despite Rythian claiming his father had killed his mum, which by the way is still an open case. Completely cold. He's got a crazy hospital record during the time he was around his dad. Anyways, he went off record between 10 and 16. First record after that is another hospital record, on which he was treated for a broken wrist and all around severe beating." He paused. "I should add that Rythian's dad vanished shortly after his son resurfaced. Rythian was interrogated for the disappearance, but never charged due to lack of evidence."

"How'd you get into his child records?" Kim asked.

"He wiped all his records, so when I found them, I found them all. And read them all. Keep your mouth shut, okay?"

"You're a horrible cop."

"Nah." He disagreed. "I'm a good cop. I'm a horrible person."

"Fine. We're back at the station. But listen lieutenant. Call Rythian if you have to, but then go home. Take a break. We'll catch him sooner if you can concentrate, sir."

"You too, Kim." He reminded her, pulling out his cell and dialling Rythian's number.

"You got anything?" Lalna demanded, getting out of the car and walking into his office to collect some stuff to bring home.

"Well… I checked the band members. Other than Parv, they're clear. Parv's been caught on self-harm and stuff. I'm 99% sure he's a blood mage, though why he would still be using his own blood is beyond me." Rythian said the last bit more to himself.

"You ever use blood magic?"

"What? Lalna, that's illegal!" He joked. "However… my wrists and hands are covered for a reason." Until he'd mentioned it, the blond hadn't remembered the white cloth covering the mage's hands and wrists.

"It's not strictly illegal, same with self harm, it's just not recommended…"

"I stopped after about a week or two. It was demanded too much blood and my hands were starting to not wash clean." Rythian admitted. "I don't talk too much about it. I was… 15? 16? I must have been 15, because the hospital noticed. Notch, that would have been eleven years ago. The blood magic, at least. Not the hospital."

Ten years since you hid your father's corpse? Twenty since you buried your mother. Lalna thought.

"Anyways, that's all I've got, and I can't very well just go talk to Parv about the murder of his band mate."

"Actually, you could. Try it, even. Tomorrow."

Rythian sighed. "You're thinking we have something in common. I'm not a blood mage, I'm an endermage!"

"A little. Oh, shit. Don't bother. Even if he did do it, which I really doubt, anything he tells you can't be used. Well… you could testify…"

"No. I know how well that works. I refuse to stand witness for anything anymore."

"Rythian, that's fine. Anyways, can you meet me at the crime scene tomorrow? Then go talk to Parv, and if you have time, the rest of the band."

"Zoeya's working… so yeah, I can." He agreed.

"What would happen if she wasn't?"

"My life would get a little harder, as I would have to make a good excuse to get out of the house." The mage replied.

"You didn't tell her what you were doing?"

"She worries a lot when I do this sort of stuff." Rythian sounded regretful.

"I get it. Anyways, see you tomorrow!"

"Bye!" He sighed. Rythian had become quite the character over the past twenty years.

Then again, so had Lalna.

"Okay. I'm going home. I can do more work at home and plan who I'm going to talk to." He muttered, though he remembered Kim telling him to go home and rest.

He drove home, heavy hearted. He would have to talk to Martyn and Kaeyi, Area 11 (which was being handled by Rythian), and a few others.

And worst of all, what if the killer struck again?

Surely he wouldn't kill another tonight. Lalna reasoned, putting the car in park and walking into his house, remembering another important question to ask himself.

What was he going to tell Rythian tomorrow?

To another I will stay true!

~Andy Grammer, Honey I'm Good


	6. Chapter 6

**In my mind, and in my car, we can't rewind we've gone to far, pictures came and broke your heart, so put all the blame on VCR**

**~Offspring/The Buggles, Video Killed The Radio Star**

**Tw for self harm, abuse, murder, angst and a bunch of stuff, sorry.**

**If the POV at some point is confusing, it's all Rythian, just some from the past, so the thoughts and names are from a younger perspective and it's more memories, cuz that's what it is is memories. You all know I like stuff like those by now, don't you? :P**

**Also, that part is less third person, but not quite first? Idk what it is. It's like first person without saying I and me.**

**~CloseToSomethingReal**

Zoeya could tell that something was wrong with him. She always could. Hopefully, she wouldn't mention it.

He didn't want to outright lie to her again.

"Rythian? You seem distracted. What happened other than your arrest? Who were you talking to?"

Could he really not make it one day without spilling his guts?

"You'll only worry." He muttered.

"I already am." She replied. "Tell me what's going on, Rythian!"

He sighed, looking her square in the face. "I'm not going to stop, no matter what you say. I'm working with the police… again." He scowled. The mage hated the police, but if he wanted these crimes solved, cooperation was necessary.

"On the case about Sparkles*." She clarified. Rythian nodded.

The red haired girl tugged down his mask and pressed her lips to his. "Be careful."

"Of course. I have to come home to you! And the cat, of course. Barry would be heartbroken if I disappeared." He chuckled. "And the fact that you knew something was up still says you know me too well."

"Two years, Rythie. Two years dating you, I should know you that well."

The mage gave her another kiss, then pulled his mask back up. "I'll start looking for a ring, I've gotten the hint, okay?" It was a joke… mostly.

"Good, cuz I wouldn't dream of saying no, Rythie!" She giggled.

"That's good to hear," Rythian said, smirking. "Listen, I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but I didn't want you to worry. I'd hoped to get this done without you noticing."

"It's okay. But seriously, stoping lying!"

"Yes ma'am!"

Later that night, long after Zoeya had fallen asleep snuggled into his side, and the cat at their feet, Rythian's usually dreamless sleep was interrupted by a few things he never really wanted to remember.

Almost immediately, he was thrown twenty years into the past. Papa was home. He was supposed to stay hidden when when papa came, but mama was crying and he wanted to see what was the matter.

"Rythian!" Mama had cried. He remembered because mama never called him Rythian, unless he was in trouble. Always Rythie. "Run away!" She had told him.

Rythian stood, paralyzed, unable to comply to what mama had told him to do.

"The little brat's here?" A gruff voice demanded. The boy stared up at the large man, purple eyes round with fear.

A powerful hand grabbed hold of his wrist. "Looks like I've got to teach you some manners. You should listen to your mother, boy." That was all papa called him. Boy.

Mama shrieked in protest, but the hulking form that was papa didn't move. Rythian's little heart tried to leap out of his chest, it seemed.

Suddenly, big hands grabbed his shirt and slammed him into a wall, knocking the breath out of him. Rythian coughed, fighting to get away, but papa just laughed and dropped him like a rag doll, before kicking his side, hard. Hot pain blossomed in his ribs, and the little boy passed out.

And all he felt was familiar pain for a while, and Rythian almost couldn't place it.

But he managed it. Blood Magic.

He was fifteen, dragging a knife along the palm of his hand, watching the skin split and feeling the pain spread with it's icy clarity.

His eyes snapped open. He felt horribly ill. Zoeya was awake, staring at him.

"Rythian? What's wrong?" She asked, voice quiet.

His ribs still felt sore, and the scars on his hands and wrists stung and burned. He forced himself to slow his breathing. Barry had his nose not even and inch from Rythian's face, and was frantically sniffing him, trying to figure out what was wrong. The Mage took a deep breath and petted the cat a bit so that he stopped sniffing his face, Barry's whiskers tickled.

"Nothing now. I'm okay. Just a few things from the past. Talking to Lalna must have reminded me of them. I'll be okay. Sorry I woke you." He muttered, shaking his head slightly to try to clear it.

"It's fine. I'm glad you did. I'd rather know something's bothering you and lack a little sleep than sleep all night and not know. What was it?"

"My father, the first time that he knocked me around. And…" he rubbed the bandages covering his hands, feeling the upraised lines that ran along the palms.

Why had he cut the palms? There was enough of a risk of hitting a nerve in his wrists, never mind his hands.

Actually… why had he ever thought blood magic was a good idea?

Zoeya wrapped her arms around him. "He's not here, Rythian. He can't hurt you anymore. And those don't matter now. You won't hurt yourself anymore. I know you won't."

"You're right." He agreed. He'd learned his lesson.

Zoeya yawned, provoking a slight smile from Rythian. "Goodnight again, sleepyhead."

"Goodnight." She muttered. Rythian closed his eyes again, and was welcomed by a dreamless sleep.

"Rythian!" Zoeya whispered. "I've got to go to work!"

He opened his eyes to blue ones right in front of him. "What time is it?"

"Eight-thirty." Much later than he'd slept yesterday. He sat up.

Rythian could tell Zoeya was going to work, her shirt covered her stomach and her skirt went down to her knees. She would never wear that for anything but work.

"See you when you're back then, hopefully." He told her.

"Love you! Bye!" She turned around to walk out of the bedroom.

"Love you too." She left the room, and shortly after, he heard the door slam.

"I might as well get going too." He decided, standing up and grabbing a shirt out of his dresser, pulling it over his head.

He remembered to eat breakfast, if coffee and a slice of toast counted, fed the cat, and found he was ready rather early.

_I could go talk to some of Sparkles* friends_. He mused. _It's barely nine, and I don't have to be at Maple Street until ten thirty. Maybe Kaeyi would know if he had any enemies._

When he arrived, he was greeted by a surprised and sleepy looking Kaeyi. "Rythian? What are you doing here?"

"I'm just here to talk. I'm helping Lalna and Kim with Sparkles* case." He explained.

"Oh…" Kaeyi's voice trailed off. "I can try to help you... come on in, Rythian."

He complied, though he wasn't intending on staying for long.

"What do you need to know?" Kaeyi asked, after they had gotten into the small living room.

"It's fine. I'm not really great at interviewing people, but I do have a few questions. Did Sparkles* have any enemies?"

Kaeyi paused for a moment, frowning. "No, not really. He had an I don't give a fuck attitude, but no one around here really minded."

"Okay, great. Hey, you know we're high on the suspect list, right? I mean, you have the same alibi as me, but still." His voice was grim. "Lalna's already interviewed me, he caught me on the crime scene, but he's going to have to talk to you, too."

"I know. I'll just have to deal with that. I didn;t kill Sparkles*, so really, I don't have to be afraid."

He glanced at his watch. Ten o'clock. "Kaeyi, it looks like I've got to go too. I assume Lalna will have more questions, since I only had one." She nodded.

He was about a fifteen minute drive from Maple Street, and there was no harm in getting there early.

With a small amount of magic, Rythian let himself in. The body had been removed. The apartment smelled of disinfectant.

Lalna arrived at ten twenty-three, and seemed more surprised than he should have been that Rythian was already there.

"It was colonel Mustard, in the living room, with the rope." The mage said, imitating CLUE. The lieutenant didn't crack a smile. He looked serious.

"You're not going to like me by the end of this." He promised.

"Lalna, I already don't like you. I haven't since I was five or six years old." Rythian replied.

"It's about your parents." His jaw clenched before he could stop it.

"My parents have nothing to do with this case."

"Your mother. What happened to her?"

"Exactly what I _said_ happened! My dad fucking beat her to death and the police didn't do a thing!" The endermage didn't yell. Though rage was clear in his voice, Rythian forced himself not to raise his voice.

"That explains why you left school and your dad at ten, I guess."

"You found my records." He realized.

"You left school for six years and spent half of that amount of time catching up. You've been treated for 3 broken ribs, and you've broken your right wrist twice. Your left knee has been reconstructed. Was that all your dad?" Lalna pressed. "Your hands and wrists too."

"My dad didn't force me to leave school. Just like my dad didn't force me to do this." He carefully unwrapped the white cloths from around his wrists and hands, revealing long, pale, upraised scars. "I left school myself, and I slit my own wrists." He paused. "The rest, yes, that was my father."

Lalna was still staring at the white lines criss-crossing the flesh of his hand. "Your did that all in two weeks? What must Parv look like?"

"Oh, his arms would be red. And covered in scars like that, some reopened six or seven times. See that?" He pointed to the middle of his hand. "Your skin stops washing clean." The very centre was stained red. "Now are we done about me?" He asked, re-wrapping the cloth.

"One more, and this is the one you'll hate the most. Your father's disappearance, did you cause it? Before you answer, just know that a) I'm not opening the cold case again, I just want to know, b) if you say yes, I can't hold it against you anyways, because I didn't read you your rights." Rythian stiffened again.

"I- I- it had to be done. Yes. It was me." Rythian stammered.

"So, you killed him, is what you're saying."

"Y-yes." The mage admitted. "I did. I can't say I don't regret it, but at the same time in not sure I do." Lalna pretended to cover his ears.

"I never heard that." He said formally. "Rythian, we never had this conversation. But thanks."

"I'm not going to lie and say no problem, Lalna. I don't like talking about myself, or that."

"I understand."

"And you're right. I hate you even more now."

**really short chapter... it looked longer on paper.**

**Can I be the only hope for you, because you're the only hope for me**

**-My Chemical Romance, The Only Hope For Me Is You**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 murder**

**A/N I haven't read this chapter recently and I'm writing this, so, idk even. Less TWs in the chapter? Yeah. That is right. This story needs a TW, really.**

**The last chapter was longer than most, and I called it short. FAIL!**

**-Something**

**I think I fell in love again, maybe I just took too much cough medicine **

**-Fall Out Boy, American Beauty/American Psycho**

Even though he had known what Rythian's answer would be, Lalna still wished he'd been innocent of the patricide. It wasn't easy to accept that someone had committed that crime, especially for a cop.

After the ill-fated conversation, Lalna called up Kaeyi, asking to talk to her.

"Sure. Rythian stopped by this morning already, but that'll work."

"He did? What did he ask?" I _never told him to do that_. He though. _But oh well. As long as he gets stuff done._

_"_Just if Sparkles had any enemies or anything like that, and warned me that I were on the suspect list." Kaeyi replied.

"Yeah, I've got to talk to you about that, but I'll do your interview thing now. Rythian said you were at the Crooked Caber as well?"

"Yeah, I was. A bunch of us, really."

"Good. I'll stop by to talk in a few minutes. You're aware that Sparkles* didn't have a will, correct? Now, he also didn't have a ton for people to inherit, so I can cross personal gain off the motive list. Anyways, see you soon!" He hung up and drove to Kaeyi's house.

A few minutes later, he was knocking on the white door to the couple's house. Kaeyi answered quickly.

"Come on in. What do you need to know?" Kaeyi asked, sitting down on a couch and waiting for Lalna to join her.

"If Sparkles* knew someone wished him harm, would he have told you?" Kaeyi frowned.

"If not me or Martyn, Beckii. But maybe no one. You knew him, Lalna." He nodded.

Their talk continued, for a while at least. Kaeyi didn't know anything to help him, and she obviously hasn't killed her friend.

So he thanked the pink-haired girl for her time and left, dialing Kim's number while sitting in Kaeyi's driveway, since talking on your phone and driving was illegal.

"What have you done?" He asked.

"I read through tons of files, and talked to the commander. He wants to see you soon for a report."

"Fuck. Thanks for talking to him. You mention Rythian?"

"I glossed over him. You get the joy of explaining how our suspect became our civilian consultant, since I really don't know." Kim replied.

"Thanks, Kim." He complained.

"No problem, lieutenant!" She answered, and hung up the phone.

The next person he called was far more irritable.

"So help me, you're going to be paying my phone bill if you keep calling this often!" He spat.

"Rythian, who pissed in your cereal?" Lalna sighed.

"You? Parv? Take your pick! I went and told three people their friend was dead, dealt with a lot of being told I didn't know what the fuck I was talking about, and got attacked by a blood mage. However, Kogie, Leo and Parv each have no alibis." He finished. "I've had a long day, and it's only two."

"Listen, sorry about this morning." Lalna started. "Does Zoeya know?"

"Yeah. She asked me after a really bad night and I told her. And I never said congratulations, you found a murderer! Just not the right one." He sounded a bit scornful. "Only took you guys ten years."

"Anyways, I'm gonna go, I was just calling to see what you found out, and also I'm not paying your phone bill, you've probably got a better salary than me!"

"What part of no employment says salary?" Rythian asked.

"Wait. Right! You really have no job?" Lalna blanked.

"I have no files. Most sane people won't hire someone that they can't look up and find something about." Rythian said, sounding even more irritated than before. "This is my employment."

"Oh. Still not paying your phone bill! Bye!" The blond hung up the phone.

"Damn it!" He was still no closer to finding his murderer. Of course Area 11 had no alibis, they'd been heading home to sleep! He would still have to go talk to them.

And he had to go talk to the commander.

That man scared him. Quite a bit. But he couldn't admit that, obviously.

He dialed another number, realizing he'd been parked in Kaeyi's driveway for ages now.

"Lieutenant. Thank your detective for giving a report. However, I still want one from you."

"Naturally, sir. I was just coming back to the office-"

"Good. Come make your report when you get here."

"Yes sir." Lalna hung up the phone, cursed, started the car and drove towards the office.

"You seem upset." A voice remarked a minute later. Lalna's hands jerked and he nearly drove off the road. He pulled over and flicked his hazard lights on.

"What the fuck?" The lieutenant yelled, and heard slightly muffled laughter. No one had gotten in the car with him, and no one was in the passenger's seat. He put a kink in his neck whipping his head around to look in the backseat.

"Rythian? What? How?" Lalna's heart started to slow, though he was still shocked.

"I was bored." Rythian replied from his spot in the backseat. "You didn't hear me, you were too busy talking, so I teleported into your car." He laughed again.

"Why?" Lalna gasped, turning back to the road and starting to drive again, flicking off the hazards.

"I don't know. I was bored, like I said! Zoeya's not home yet, so I came to bug you. After all, you keep bugging me!"

"You're in a better mood, all of the sudden." Lalna remarked. "And I wasn't aware you could teleport."

"I ate a quick lunch, that's probably it. And drank some coffee. And, as an endermage, I have to be offended. Of course I can teleport!" He scoffed.

"Sorry. That's handy then!"

"Yeah, I suppose."

"So you don't have a reason to be here." Lalna asked again.

"No!" The mage confirmed. "But who was that? You didn't seem to like him."

"Stay out of my head, and that was my commander. I've got to make a report." Lalna explained, heaving a heavy sigh.

"Damn. Well, I'll stop bothering you!" Rythian offered.

"No, stay here. You're coming to the report too." Lalna told him.

"Um… no. I'd rather not." Rythian declined calmly.

"Don't you dare leave!" Lalna warned.

Glancing in the rear view mirror, Lalna saw that Rythian may have been smirking. "What can you do to stop me, Lieutenant Lividcoffee?"

"Not much, but you're involved too. So you can suffer too."

_I don't think I want to meet him, if he scares you this much._

_**Get the fuck out of my head!**_

_Nice try. A+ for effort, Lalna._ Rythian replied, still in his head.

"Come on…" Lalna pleaded. "I really don't need you in my head!"

_Fine._

"Ryth!" He protested.

"My name's Rythian, not Ryth." The man told him, suddenly serious.

"I seem to recall you going by Rythie." Lalna mused. "I figured Ryth would bruise your ego a bit less."

"Zoeya gets away with Rythie, because I can't get her to stop. Apart from that, I don't go by a nickname." Rythian said, glaring at the lieutenant.

"Fine, fine." Lalna laughed. "Anyways, we're here."

"I can tell." Rythian said, smiling a little bit mockingly. "Cop minds are loud and always racing."

"I told you-"

"I'm not in anyone's head, never mind yours. I can just hear them. Also, the building says Tekkit Topia Police and Security Department. I can read." Lalna thought he was getting better at telling when the mage was smiling.

"I never said you couldn't! Anyways, get out, like I said, we're here!"

Rythian complied, opening the door and getting out.

"You were in the car, while I was driving, with no seat belt on?" Lalna groaned, the cop in him not liking that idea.

"Yeah…" Rythian didn't seem to see anything wrong with that. Lalna rolled his eyes.

"I don't believe this." He muttered, staring at the tinted glass of the station, where his fate now rested.

That thought was a bit dramatic, but that was how he felt.

"Whatever." Rythian was looking at the building as well, but with a bit more of a spiteful and hateful look than a worried one. "Let's go before I decide to leave." He walked towards the glass doors of the police station.

"You aren't armed, right?" Lalna called, boots clomping as he chased after Rythian, who'd set a brisk pace.

The Endermage turned to face him, purple eyes narrowed. "Not in a way any of you humans would notice."

"Wait, human? Right! I'd forgotten Endermagic was hereditary so you can say human like you're not one. Got it. Never mind, let's go." Lalna said, wondering how he even remembered seemingly useless information like that.

"No, my eyes are just purple by fluke." Rythian scorned. "What did you think it was, Lalna?"

"Hey, it could have just been a result from using the magic, but whatever. Let's go make this report. Stay near me," Lalna thought of a few cops who wouldn't trust Rythian further than they could throw him, ignoring that a few could probably throw him pretty far, and figured it was a bad idea to have the mage walking alone through the station. "You aren't exactly inconspicuous and someone might think you're a threat."

"That's judgmental." Rythian remarked, though he nodded just the same.

Lalna walked past desks full of frowning police officers, grabbed a doughnut off the table, since he hadn't eaten lunch, provoking a bit of a chuckle from Rythian, and had managed to eat it before getting to the commander's office. He knocked on the closed door.

"Come in, lieutenant." He called. Lalna took a deep breath and open the door and stepped in, with Rythian close behind him.

Lalna could tell the mage took an immediate disliking to the commander from the way he stiffened.

"Lividcoffee. Who is that?" The commander demanded, glaring at the lieutenant and his civilian consultant.

"Um… this is Rythian Enderborn." Lalna explained. Recognition dawned on the commander's face, and Rythian scowled.

"Was Mr. Enderborn," Rythian winced as he was called what had probably been his father's title, and not one he wanted to inherit, "not a suspect?"

"He was, sir, however I find that he could be useful on this case, and his alibi is solid." The commander tapped something on his computer.

"Mr. Enderborn. If you're innocent," the commander continued typing, "why have your records been cleared?"

"I've received access to them and can get them to you, sir." Lalna said quickly, trying to get out of having it known that Rythian's files had been cleared by the Mage himself.

"Why were they cleared to start with, Mr. Enderborn?" The commander asked, voice sharp.

Rythian didn't hesitate, he seemed in a mood to piss off this man. "I had a rough childhood, and it required less access just to clear them all."

"Clearing files… you shouldn't have had access to your files to modify them! But fine. Lieutenant, give your report." If pissing the commander off was Rythian's goal, he'd succeeded.

"The victim is Tom Clarke, TOD is between 23 and 24 o'clock. COD has been confirmed as strangulation, worn off skin around the victim's neck indicates that a rope was used, but we never found it. There were signs of resistance after the rope was around the vic's neck, and the toxicology came up clear, so we're assuming the vic knew his killer." Lalna said, before adding, "Myself, Detective Nanosounds and Rythian all knew the victim personally."

"You're primary?"

"Yes sir. Detective Nanosounds and Rythian are working on the case with me."

"Understood. I want those records as soon as possible." The commander clarified. "Leave now, lieutenant."

Once they were out of the room, Lalna turned to Rythian. "I take it you don't like him, but pissing him off isn't a good idea."

"Well pissing me off isn't a good idea either. Have you ever wondered if that man if human? Because if you thought not, you're right. I walked in and he was already trying to force his way into my mind. I couldn't get in to his, so I have no idea what he is, but he's not human." Rythian spat, though he seemed less mad than he had been earlier.

"I knew it! Of course, I though he was an alien, but that works too. Anyways, I've gotta remove your child records, cuz I'm not supposed to have them to start with, and send them to the commander. You can get home yourself, right?" Rythian glanced around to make sure no one was watching.

"I'm going to start taking offense." He warned, and disappeared in a shower of purple sparks.

"Fine then." Lalna muttered, and walked back to his office.

**You're the one that I need, I'm the one that you loathe**

**-My Chemical Romance, The Sharpest Lives**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 murder**

**Hey guys! Whazzup! I just posted the other like, four chapters so I don't know why I'm asking that now.**

**~Something**

**If heaven and hell decided that they both are satisfied and illuminate the nos on their vacancy signs**

**-Death Cab For Cutie, I'll Follow You Into The Dark**

Rythian didn't like many people who's minds he couldn't read, which meant he didn't like a ton of mages, and the commander was no exception.

Zoeya still wasn't home when he got there, but it was about five o'clock, so he walked into the kitchen and started making supper, since he had nothing better to do and he didn't mind cooking. The cat wound between his feet before Rythian shooed him out of the kitchen. Sometimes Barry was worse than a dog in that respect. With the amount of table scraps that cat had nicked, it was a miracle that he was as small as he was.

The redhead opened at door about forty-five minutes later, while the lasagna was still cooking. "Hello love." He muttered, walking up to her and barely beating Barry there, who had let himself back into the kitchen to get to the foyer when he heard the door and started winding around Zoeya's feet and yowling.

"Ugh. Sorry. Hi!" Zoeya yawned, and gave him a hug, which he returned. "Long day." She explained, resting her head on his shoulder, ignoring the cat, who's yowling just got louder and more incessant.

"Annoying clients?" Rythian asked, since that was what it had been last time his girlfriend had came home like this. Normally she loved her job and came home pretty happy.

"Indecisive." Zoeya replied, frowning and finally bending down to say hello to the cat. "You smell like tomatoes and blood. What happened?"

Rythian smiled. "Nothing too bad, the blood's not my own. The tomatoes are because I made lasagna for supper, and the blood is because I went to talk to Parv today, and his whole house reeks of it." She nodded.

"Well, the lasagna smells great, but I've gotta go change." Zoeya hated wearing anything that could be taken for professional, but she put up with it for work. She ran off.

He sighed, going back to the kitchen to check on their supper. He'd had a long day, and was glad to be back home with Zoeya.

How had he even survived years without her when now he could barely get through a day? He'd changed a lot.

The Endermage pulled the lasagna out of the oven to let it cool, and waited for Zoeya to return.

So of course she managed to startle him when she did. "Rythie, honestly. Take your coat off! You don't wear coats in the house!" He sighed and untied the sash before shrugging off his coat and hanging it on the hook by the door.

"Anyways, I didn't say hello properly, so, hello!" She pulled down his mask and gave him a kiss.

"Hello again." He muttered, giving a bit of a smile. "I guess we both had long days."

"Oh well! It's fine now, I'm home!" Zoeya said happily. "Home is better than work, even on a good day!"

"You're right. Now let's eat." He suggested, stepping away from her to go cut the lasagna.

Zoeya nodded and pulled out some plates, glasses, and cutlery. She kept talking about her work, but Rythian could sense her growing more and more frustrated, so he walked up to her and gently put a finger to her lips to shush her.

"Zoeya, leave work at work. Just for today." The mage told her. Zoeya nodded.

"Can we eat now? I'm starving!" She told Rythian, smiling.

"Well, bring me a plate, I've already cut the lasagna!" He laughed, scooping up a piece and putting it on the plate the fiery girl handed to him. She took it back and sat down at the table before taking a bite.

"This is really good!" She exclaimed. Rythian rolled his eyes, grabbing himself a piece and joining her at the dinner table.

"You seem surprised!" He said teasingly. "After two years, I'd thought you'd know I am capable of cooking, even vegetarian meals!" Actually, Rythian couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten meat, despite having said he wasn't going to become a vegetarian.

"I know, Rythie. I was complementing your skills!" She giggled.

His face flushed slightly. "Oh, sorry." The mage muttered.

"It's fine." Zoeya told him. "Let's watch a movie tonight!" Rythian almost groaned, he hated watching movies. But he put up with them for Zoeya.

"Fine." He agreed. His girlfriend smiled.

"You can pick one, since I know you don't like movies." She offered, still smiling. He chuckled.

"I think we have this conversation every time you suggest watching a movie. I can't pick one, because I don't really like them." He replied. Really, he sat through the things just to spend time with the girl.

"Alright. And if you want, we can do something else." She said, giving him a way out.

"No, I weaselled out last time you suggested we watch a movie. I'm fine." Zoeya finished her meal and went to fill up the sink.

Rythian put his plate on the counter and was about to go work on the case when the redhead called him back.

"I'll leave my work alone today, but you do the same." She told him. "Go read your book or something until I'm done here." He nodded and walked to the living room, where his book was sitting on the coffee table.

After a few pages, he put it back down, deciding that he was just wasting the story. He couldn't focus.

Instead, the mage leaned back, and allowed his mind to just wander around, lost in thought, which he didn't often do, as there was just too much he didn't want to think of again.

Barry hopped onto his lap, purring and running his cheeks along Rythian's hands and rubbing against his chest, doing what he and his girlfriend called petting himself.

This time, the mage's thoughts stayed mostly pleasant. Maybe even the darkest corners of his mind were tired of dark thoughts.

Zoeya tapped him on the shoulder. "If you're tired, you can go to bed. I already told you you don't have to watch the movie with me."

He blinked, his girlfriend's gaze was inches from his own. "I'm okay." He assured her. "I'm actually not tired, just thinking. What are we watching?"

"Well, I know it's a book too, so you've probably read it, you big nerd. The Princess Bride."

Rythian had read it, but didn't feel like admitting it. "Alright!" He agreed, sitting down on the couch. Zoeya sat next to him.

She frowned and pulled down the black cloth covering his face. "You don't have to wear that all the time. I wish you wouldn't. I know you think you have to hide-"

"But I don't. You've told me this at least once a week for two years." The mage told her. "Any other reasons?"

"When you don't wear it, it makes kissing you easier. I don't have to pull it down." She offered.

"Fair enough. I'll leave it down for now." She smiled, gave him a kiss, and pressed play, leaning back as she did so. Rythian wrapped his arm around her, sort of more interested in her reactions than the movie itself, as per usual.

The movie was a decent representation of the book, which wasn't super common, and Rythian was a little impressed.

"You have read this, haven't you? You're mouthing the words!" Zoeya laughed.

Rythian nodded. "Why do you sound surprised?" He asked. The girl shrugged.

"I have no idea." Zoeya admitted. "I just keep hoping I'll find a movie based on a book you haven't read."

"I can't think of one, Zoeya, but I wish you luck." Rythian told her, trying not to laugh.

Zoeya did however, and went back to watching her movie.

When she finished the Princess Bride, Zoeya yawned.

"I think you're tired, sleepyhead." Rythian muttered, leaning over and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"A little." She said, yawning again. "Okay, a lot. Like I said, long day. I'm gonna go to bed early."

"I'll read for a bit, then join you." He promised.

"You go in your office, I'm locking it and melting down the key." Zoeya warned, standing up and stretching before handing him his book from the coffee table.

"Yes mom."

"Don't call me that!" She protested, pressing her lips to his in a goodnight kiss before walking to their bedroom.

**Fluffy shit forever! Relevant stuff: next chapter! See ya! (Not literally)**

**With a thousand lies and a good disguise, hit him right between the eyes, hit him right between the eyes**

**-The Offspring, You're Gonna Go Far, Kid**

**~CloseToSomethingReal (Sorry, I'm just a fangirl shipper at heart and needed to satisfy my shipping side before -killing- doing more important stuff!)**


	9. Chapter 9

**(A/N) guys I love Underline EP and in no way am I actually hating the content. Override (A) is great, as well as the other two. I'm just saying that the content is more iffy (and sweary) than the rest of the songs, with the lines like 'take this fuck' and 'the product of rape'. I mean, up until Underline, the only swears in their songs was one in the DIRTY VERSION of Tokyo House Party.**

**Do you feel cold and lost in desperation? You build up hope, but failure's all you've known. Remember all the sadness and frustration, and let it go, let it go.**

**~Linkin Park, Iridescent**

Lalna woke up at six o'clock in the morning, slumped over his keyboard. He sat up, bleary-eyed, and took a sip of his now-cold coffee before wincing. He'd need to heat that up for breakfast.

He yawned, looking down at his clothes to see if he could pull them off as clean. It didn't look like the lieutenant could, so he stood up and walked into his room to grab some new clothes. Maybe today he'd finally get around to talking to Sparkles*' neighbours. Rythian could do as he pleased, it didn't concern Lalna. He'd get something done.

He heated his coffee while brushing his teeth, running a hand through his messy hair and wondering when he had last showered. Lalna couldn't remember, and decided to put it out of his mind.

Lalna scalded his mouth on his coffee and decided not to put it in the microwave for three minutes again, but still finished the drink in ten minutes. He then fought off the urge to climb back into bed, and walked out the door to his beat-up old car, wondering if he should have eaten an actual breakfast, and if there would be anything in the coffee room at the office.

The drive was long and dreary, grey clouds contrasting the bright blue skies they'd seen the past few days. He yawned again, wishing he'd made more coffee, and drove through the early traffic.

The police station was already busy, people running back and forth with papers, or snapping at officers to get something done.

Police never slept, it seemed.

Kim was waiting in his office, chewing on a bagel. She glanced mockingly at her watch. "You're late, lieutenant. Aren't you normally here by six?"

Lalna checked the time. "It's six-thirty, and that's when I normally show up, thank you. You're just early." His stomach growled.

"Aren't you lucky I owed you a meal?" His detective teased, handing him his own bagel. "You never eat breakfast."

He took the bagel and took a bite. "Thanks, Kim."

"No problem. Are we going to finally get on to talking to Sparkles*' neighbours?" She smiled a bit coyly. "Or did you get Rythian to do that too?"

Lalna pretended to be offended by her accusation. "Are you saying I'm making him do my job?"

"No, you're doing your job as a lieutenant: tell someone of lower rank to do it." She laughed.

Lalna frowned, and checked to see that there were no captains around. "No, that's a captain's job." Kim laughed again, finishing her bagel.

"Well hurry up and eat, we've got to- actually, we don't have a ton to do at this hour." Lalna frowned at the girl.

"There's tons we can do at this hour, I can just do it while eating a bagel." He told her, booting up his computer. "We can do background checks on the neighbours. I know at least one or two of their names."

"That's good, what are they?" Kim asked, as Lalna clearly wasn't focusing and the computer had booted up, so she logged on to her own account.

"Um… Randall Anderson, and Simone McDougall." Lalna replied, frowning slightly. "I think."

Kim typed in the first name in, and came up instantly with a profile. "Randall Anderson, fifty-eight years old, single, he's a teacher at Tekkit-Topia Middle School. His records pretty clean, nothing major." She frowned. "Now for Simone."

Simone was a different story. She was twenty-two, and a bartender at a local bar. She had a handful of DUIs on her records, she was on probation at this point for alcohol abuse (who knew how she managed to keep a job as a bartender with probation), and she'd been known to hit into the pot.

"Wow. It could be an interesting conversation with her." Lalna decided, smiling. "Well, it's still only seven, so what the hell do you want to do for about and hour and a half?"

"No clue, you're the lieutenant, it's your job to make these decisions." The lieutenant laughed.

"You leave it to me, you'll be waking me up in an hour and a half." Lalna admitted, yawning. Kim laughed.

"How about I go get us some coffee, and you organize a proper suspect list." She suggested.

"Fine." Lalna turned to his computer. The actual list wasn't super long. A few friends that he hoped to Notch had alibis, the members of Sparkles*' band, possibly the neighbours. There was no real motive, unless one of the neighbours hated weird rock music, or Sparkles* had tricked Kogie into drink five litres of water in ten minutes again.

They were both actually likely. Sparkles* made weird music and had a habit of tricking Kogie.

Kim walked in, and the strong smell of coffee followed her. She handed the lieutenant a steaming mug, which he didn't feel like admitting was already his second cup, and sat down "How's the suspect list going?" The detective asked.

"Badly. We really need to talk to the neighbours. We should have earlier. Wait. Why didn't any uniforms do that while we had Rythian under custody?" That wasn't a new concept for uniforms.

"Because they're morons and have to be told what to do?" Kim suggested, taking a sip of her police-grade coffee, which wasn't great.

"That sounds likely. But I doubt Ms McDougall and Mr Anderson would appreciate us fixing that at this hour." Lalna muttered, turning back to the computer. "I still don't know why someone would want to kill Sparkles*. What motive do they have? Are they an obsessed fan? A huge hater? An associate with a grudge?"

"Well," Kim began slowly, pondering her words before saying them. "we could look up the ideas of haters and fans. Just search the band and fanpages and stuff."

Lalna turned back to the computer, opened up the browser, and typed in Area 11 fans. A few Facebook pages, some Tumblr, nothing seeming out of hand. Most of them had memorial-type posts up, since the police hadn't had any choice but to release Sparkles*' name as the vic.

"Alright…" Lalna muttered, typing in a new search. "Area 11 haters… nothing." The band wasn't well known enough, it seemed, to have major amounts of hate. A few disapproving words about the lyrics of a few songs, something about swears and rape? The lieutenant had never listened close enough to the songs to catch stuff like that. Anyways, that was all.

"Nothing about the band, Kim, unless you count the people who know all the lyrics and didn't like some of the content."

"Yeah, Sparkles* had mentioned that the content in their last EP was more iffy than the rest. Still, I don't think… Thatonecrazyfangirl and those other weird blog names have a motive for murder." Kim said good-naturedly.

"You're right, but anyone with the blog name of insane-ex-murderer makes me wonder." The blond joked, pointing to another blog that had added to the post.

"Ha ha. Back to the actual serious case, Lividcoffee. Not that we have much to do."

The two managed to waste an hour, and set off to Maple street. Mr. Anderson probably would have already left for work, after all, it was a Monday, but hopefully they could catch Ms. McDougall.

Ms. McDougall answered the door with the number 9 on it, bleary eyed and seeming angry. "What the fuck do you want?" She demanded. "I'm trying to fucking eat breakfast!"

In response, the lieutenant held his badge up to her face. "My name's lieutenant Lividcoffee, and this is detective Nanosounds, we need to talk to you about Tom Clarke, your neighbour."

Simone rolled her dark eyes. "The nut job song artist who was killed a few days ago? What about him?"

"I need to know if you saw anyone come into the apartment around eleven and twelve o'clock." Simone narrowed her eyes, which had way too much black eyeliner around them.

"I work between those hours, so I wasn't here." She said sharply. "I can prove it, too. I'm a bartender, so a bunch of people will be able to tell you I was there, provided they all weren't too smashed."

"How does bartending meet the requirements of your probation?" Kim asked quietly.

"I worked it out with the judge." Simone snapped. "Now can you leave?"

"Yeah, I think so. You don't seem upset at all about Mr. Clarke." The blond remarked, glaring at her suspiciously with emerald green eyes.

"Nah. Maybe this time I'll have a normal neighbour who doesn't play weird-ass music all the time. At least he could sing, though." And she slammed the door in the police officers' faces.

"What do you think, Lividcoffee?" Nanosounds asked.

"She's not lying, but I don't think she liked Sparkles* that much. Though it didn't seem like she hated him enough to have him killed." Lalna answered.

"That's the feeling I got." She agreed. "Should we try Mr. Anderson's door?"

"Why not?" Lalna walked up to the white door with number thirteen in gold numbers on it and knocked sharply on the wood.

"One minute!" A stuffy voice called, and footsteps could be heard coming closer to the door. It opened, and an elderly man's face, like Simone with bleary eyes, was visible. "Sorry, I've had this awful cold for days now. What can I do for you?"

Since this man was nicer than Ms. McDougall, Lalna was nicer as well. He calmly pulled out his badge and held it up. "I'm lieutenant Lividcoffee, this is detective Nanosounds-"

"Oh Notch! You're here about my poor neighbour, aren't you? What a shame. I hate seeing young life go to waste like that." Randall said sadly, pulling out a handkerchief and blowing his nose.

"Yeah, we're here about Tom." Lalna confirmed.

"That was his name? He always just said Sparkles*, with enough conviction that I believed him. He had interesting taste in lots of things, including names." The man said. "Anyways, lieutenant, any idea who killed him yet? If you're allowed to say."

"I'm not," Lalna began, "but the investigation is ongoing."

"So… can I ask, why are you here? Not meaning that in a rude way, or anything," Mr. Anderson added quickly, "just curious."

Lalna sighed. "I just wanted to know if you saw anyone suspicious around here last Saturday, between eleven and twelve pm."

"Eleven and twelve? I would have been asleep. I guess if I need an alibi, I'm out of luck, though I don't really know why anyone would have killed Sparkles*- sorry, Tom, never mind myself. He had interesting tastes, like I already said, but he was a nice neighbour." Randall said regretfully.

"Firstly, I knew Sparkles*, so you don't have to say Tom. Secondly, I agree with you, I'm not sure why some would kill him either. But I'm going to find out." The police officer promised.

"Good." Randall muttered, blowing his nose again.

"We'll go now, and let you get back to what you were doing." Kim told him, smiling a bit. Randall closed to door and the officers walked off.

"What do you make of him?" Lalna asked, beating Kim to what she would normally say.

"Um… he seems genuine, and there's nothing on his record to suggest that he was faking the sentiment." She offered. "He's not as professional as our killer. To be honest, neither is Ms. McDougall."

"That's exactly what I was thinking. So, we go back to our original suspects. Kogie, Leo and Parv. See anything in them?" Lalna pondered his own statement. Could the band members really have done it?

Kogie or Leo? Not likely. Parv, with all his blood magic and stuff? Likely.

"I don't know. Depends on Parv's stability. I see a lot of jokes amongst the four of them, but no real murderous intent." She replied.

"Are you reading my mind, Kim?" Lalna demanded.

"No, that's my job." Rythian chuckled, appearing right behind the lieutenant, mask around his neck instead of over his mouth, grinning. Purple lines that made his skin look like cracked stone traced down his jawline all the way to his chin, clearly what he was always hiding. "Surprise! And, Lalna, my face isn't that interesting, and hasn't anyone ever told you not to stare?"

"I'll be honest, you appearing didn't really even faze me. And sorry, but if you don't want me to see your face, why'd you take your mask off?"

Rythian blushed. "I just forgot to pull it back up after… saying goodbye to Zoeya." He pulled the black cloth back up.

"So you kissed your girlfriend goodbye, and forgot that the mask you've worn for at least twenty years wasn't back over your face?" Lalna laughed.

"Yep! Anyways, I've got something you may want to see. Come back to Sparkles* apartment." The mage told the two, turning around to walk towards apartment eleven without waiting to see if they were following.

"Well lieutenant?" Kim asked, waiting for directions.

"Let's go."

**And over the years, though the pain was real, she finally forgave him, and started to heal**

**~Owl City, This Isn't The End**


	10. Chapter 10

**You can fly, if you'd only cut loose, footloose, kick off your Sunday shoes!**

**~Kenny Loggins, Footloose**

The footsteps followed Rythian's own down the hallway, proving that Lalna and Kim had listened to what he'd said.

The mage was already unraveling the white cloths from around his wrists, this was one of those stupid magics that you couldn't have anything on your hands when you tried to cast it. He shoved the strips of white fabric through the brown sash around his waist.

"Rythian, what the hell do you want to show us?" Lalna demanded, boots clomping as he chased after the mage.

The man turned around, smiling a bit. "Your crime scene." The blond sighed.

"We've seen the crime scene!" Kim protested, and Rythian let out a slight chuckle.

"Fine. I'm showing you your crime. I probably should have done this earlier, but I kept getting distracted by other things." The brunet could sense Lalna's confusion even without delving into his mind.

"What do you mean, my crime?" He demanded. "What the hell does that mean?"

Rythian chuckled again. "Exactly what I said. I can show you exactly what happened when Sparkles* was killed." He opened the door, without a key, and stepped in.

Lalna walked in a few seconds later, an even more puzzled expression than Rythian thought possible of him on his face. "What? What happened?"

"Yes." Rythian waited for Kim to walk in before elaborating. "I can recreate the scene by magic." And without waiting for another puzzled word, Rythian closed his eyes, and snapped his fingers, causing a sharp, loud noise.

"What-"

"Shut up, please." The mage hissed, clenching his teeth. The echoes were fainter than they'd been two days before, the echoes he was illuminating with magic. The fainter they were, the harder it was to illuminate them.

But the man opened his eyes to see purple silhouettes appearing, and knew he'd done it right at least.

"There's Sparkles*." He muttered, pointing to a form that was slowly growing brighter and more defined. "The killer won't become defined like he does, because I don't know who it is." Sure enough, as Rythian spoke, Sparkles* face grew sharp enough to be recognized.

"How the hell…?" Kim's voice trailed off, staring around the now purple hued room, where the echo of Sparkles* from days ago stood perfectly defined, yawning slightly.

"Lives leave echoes on this world. If I were to say, walk into your kitchen and use this magic, it would illuminate the echo of yourself cooking or whatever you did last night. I can choose specific times I want to see as well. So again, in your kitchen, I could choose to see what happened three days ago, and it would just take more effort to get the same results. Of course, to make this harder, I have to know exactly who was there before all the faces would appear." He explained to the detective. "Now watch. The murderer comes in soon."

And about thirty seconds later, the purple hue of a door opened without a qualm, though the actually solid door stayed in place. Rythian glanced at the glowing purple hands on the clock that contradicted the solid black ones. "Eleven twenty-one, killer walks in. Without any forced entry."

The ghost of Sparkles* turned when the door opened, frowning in confusion, but he didn't seem upset. "He knew his killer." Lalna realized.

"That he did." Rythian agreed. The killer walked calmly towards Sparkles*, who grinned wearily.

And just as calmly, as though the murderer was in a trance, he looped a noose around the singer's neck, and pulled it tight. Instantly, Sparkles*' calm demeanour vanished, and he scrambled against the choking rope, to know avail.

The killer showed no emotion, from what they could tell without facial expressions, and the ginger pulled against the rope, trying frantically to get it off from around his neck, though with every passing minute, his struggles grew weaker and weaker.

Rythian had never strangled anyone, in a sort of twisted memory to his mother, he'd killed his father the same way the son of a bitch had killed his mother, but he could easily imagine what it would have been like feeling every weak struggle, every panicked movement, and wasn't sure even he'd have been able to stomach it.

Then again, the only person he could ever imagine beating to death and stomaching it was the one he already had.

At eleven twenty-nine, Sparkles* stopped struggling and fell limp. The blurred figure pulled the rope off his neck and let the dead man fall to the ground, and without looking back, walked out the door. Rythian dismissed the magic and the room lost its purple hue.

"Wow." Lalna breathed. "That was-"

"Merciless." Kim interrupted. "I've not yet had to terminate anyone in the line of duty, but I can't imagine doing it that calmly, and I would have a good reason."

"The truth is Kim, you aren't that calm. That wasn't natural." The blond murmured.

"I can second that." Rythian found his own voice hushed, just following the rest of the people in the room.

Kim frowned. "How would you know?" She demanded, and the purple eyed man saw her hand drift to her weapon.

Rythian sighed. "Kim, I guess Lalna didn't tell you, so I should. My first and only major crime was a patricide." He admitted.

"What? You-"

"I killed my own father, if you have to know, the same way that man killed my mother." He laughed, a little bitterly. "What goes around comes around, I guess."

Kim looked confused as to what to do, as Lalna didn't seem to be reacting to this information.

"Sir," she addressed the lieutenant. "Our consultant-"

"Is a murderer. I'm very aware of that, and have no intention of opening any ten-year cold cases. It sounds to me that Rythian's father got what he deserved." The detective looked conflicted.

"But, we have to-"

"Side with the dead, no matter what. I know. If I come up with a way to solve that case without getting Rythian thrown in prison, believe me I will. But I don't know how, and though it's terrible, I have a hard time siding with Richard Enderborn on this one. He killed his wife and continuously beat his son for years." Lalna's green eyes were serious, and somewhat regretful.

Sort of like how Rythian was with the whole matter, if you added satisfied. "I finally left after four years of being beaten, never mind what happened before my mother was killed. I understand where you're coming from, Kim. Out of the three people who know, you aren't the first to react that way. Zoeya was worried as well. And I don't even have to excuse of youth, since I was sixteen, nor would I use it."

"Technically, I don't see a lot of people complaining much. I've heard of stories like these, most people just blow it off as a sort of emotional scarring from the abuse." Lalna supplied. "I'm not saying you're emotionally scarred, I'm not saying you aren't. I'm just saying how most attorneys play it. Anyways, can we go back to our crime? Kim, we can discuss this later."

"Fine." The black haired woman agreed, shaking her head. "Our killer wasn't natural. What does that tell us?"

"To me… it says they've killed before." Lalna muttered.

"Or premeditate, a lot." Rythian added. "They had a plan, and they followed it."

Lalna looked like he was about to say more, but was interrupted by his cellphone beeping. He pulled it out, glanced at who was calling, and hit speakerphone.

"Lieutenant Lalna, Lividcoffee, what's wrong?" He said.

"This is dispatch. There's been another murder, reported by Ms. Zoeya Proasheck," Rythian's heart skipped a beat when he heard his girlfriend's name, "in the apartment block at 15 Cherry Street, apartment 116. The victim has been identified as Mr. Teep Rex, COD is yet to be determined. Please report to scene, Lieutenant."

"Who's on scene?" The blond demanded.

"Officer Rickman and Detective Trudy are on scene, Officer Rickman is currently looking after Miss Proasheck, she's been requesting that someone come to see her."

Lalna stayed calm through the whole thing. "Who would that be?"

The person didn't pause. "Mr. Rythian Enderborn." The mage almost teleported to Teep's apartment then and there, but Lalna stopped him with a glance, before continuing his conversation.

"Is this connected to my current case?"

"Possibly." And the person on the other end hung up.

"Rythian…" Lalna began, frowning.

"I have to go to Zoeya. Please. I won't do anything brash to hinder the case, but she needs someone. I can feel it." He said before Lalna could stop him. "She's asking for me to come, Lalna. I can't just ignore her."

Lalna sighed. "Three rules, the first one's going to be the hardest. One) do not tell her that she's now a suspect. Two) you two are not allowed to leave the scene. Three) do not tell her anything extra about the crime scene, got it?"

"Got it." Rythian agreed, and the lieutenant scribbled a note down.

"There's your clearance, show that to detective Trudy and he'll let you through, okay? Do not just teleport past the police, you'll just get into trouble." The blond handed Rythian the note. "One more thing. The cops are right, no matter what. Got it?"

Rythian nodded. "I'll see you there soon." He was sort of short on magical energy after his earlier spell, but he still had enough to teleport to Teep's door, which was open with yellow crime scene tape over the middle.

"Hello? Detective Trudy?" He called, remembering that he wasn't supposed to just walk in.

Soon enough, a stern looking man walked up. "Who are you?" He demanded, and Rythian assumed this was detective Trudy.

"Rythian Enderborn, Lieutenant Lividcoffee's consultant." He explained.

"You're the one that the witness has been asking for." He realized. "Did Lividcoffee send you?"

"Yes, I was there when he got the call from dispatch. Here," Rythian held out the note that Lalna had given him. "He said this would be enough for me to get in."

The detective read the note, and chuckled. "I see the lieutenant's wording skills, or spelling skills, for that matter, haven't gotten any better, but yeah, you can come in." Trudy held up the yellow tape for Rythian to duck under.

"You know this place well?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Good. Don't touch anything, Miss Proasheck is in the master bedroom with Officer Rickman." Detective Trudy handed back the note. "Show her that and she'll let you in."

Rythian nodded, took the note, and set off for the master bedroom.

He knocked on the closed oak door, not wanting to upset anybody by just walking in, and a young woman dressed in a police uniform, complete with the hat, opened the door, face somber. "What's wrong- you aren't Trudy." She realized.

"No, I'm Rythian-"

"Oh good you came. I was wondering if dispatch would call you. You've got a note from the detective, right?" She asked, seeming relieved.

"Lieutenant Lividcoffee, actually. I'm working as a consultant." Rythian held up the note, and the officer read it over.

"You can go in." She told the mage, stepping out of the way for him to walk in the door.

Zoeya was sitting on the bed, curled into a foetal position, sobbing. Rythian walked up and sat down next to her, and she looked up to see him, eyes red and puffy.

"Rythie!" She gasped, throwing her arms around him. "Oh Notch. Tee-"

"I know," he said gently, wrapping his arms around her and rubbing her back. "I know, Zoeya."

"I'd arranged to come by this afternoon," she began, voice quivery, "you were supposed to come too, but you were busy. I got here and knocked, even though Tee always told us not to bother, but he didn't answer, and the door was unlocked, so I didn't need my key, which was good, because I'd forgotten it. And I walked in, and I couldn't find Tee, but the bathroom door was wide open and the lights were on, so I went and checked and-" the redhead cut herself off with a sob. "And- and Tee was-" she buried her face into Rythian's neck, unable to continue.

Rythian didn't know what to tell her, so he just stayed quiet, unsure what would help calm her down. He hadn't known Teep as well as Zoeya had, his girlfriend had dated their mute companion back in high school.

"W-was it the same one that killed Sparkles*?" Zoeya stammered a few minutes later, trembling slightly.

Rythian almost said that he couldn't tell her, but remembered that he wasn't supposed to give Zoeya any warning that she was suspect. It tore up his insides to not be able to warn her, but he forced himself just to shake his head. "I don't know. I haven't seen Tee yet, I came straight to you."

"I'm glad you came." The girl whispered, reaching up to brush some tears out of her eyes. "I didn't think they would let you."

"I would have came even if they didn't." Rythian promised. "I would never leave you alone with this sort of thing."

Zoeya was quiet for a while. "Is there- I mean, am I in any trouble for being here? For having for found Tee?"

This one was harder to say than the first lie. "N-no. They just need to talk to you about what you found."

Kim poked her head in the door, which surprised Rythian, because he hadn't heard the lieutenant or detective arrive. "Rythian? I hate to interrupt, but Lalna needs your help on scene. I can stay here, you'll be back in five minutes."

Even though it sounded more like an order than a request, Rythian still looked at Zoeya first.

"Will you be okay?" He asked softly. She nodded.

"Go figure out who killed Tee." She whispered, lips trembling. Rythian pulled away from his red haired girlfriend and Kim walked in, seeming both sympathetic and serious.

"Detective Nanosounds," Rythian began, though he got the feeling he was put of his league on this one, "wait till I'm back to start questioning her, okay? I won't stop her from answering anything, just wait until she has someone with her. It doesn't even have to be me. Someone she trusts."

The black haired woman nodded. "Of course. Does she have any family I can call?"

Rythian shook his head. "Her parents died a few years back, and she was an only child."

"Then I'll wait for you to get back. And thanks for not telling her about…"

"I won't say no problem."

And Rythian walked out into the hall and nearly into Lalna.

To give him credit, he didn't immediately jump to the crime. "How's Zoeya?"

Rythian didn't lie. "Lalna, have you ever discovered a body? With no report, no warning, just bam! Dead body."

"Yes, a few times." The lieutenant confirmed.

"Did you know the victims?"

"No."

"Now, imagine that you aren't trained for that stuff, and that the first body you ever found was one of someone you dated in high school and stayed good friends with. I'd say she's not okay. Now come on. The sooner I help you, to sooner I can get back to Zoeya." Lalna didn't ask about Zoeya's wellbeing again, he just followed after Rythian to the bathroom.

There was blood tinting the bath water. Teep was fully clothed, a peaceful expression on his face. "We tested the water, because of the frayed cord that had been tucked beside the bath. They've taken it as evidence now, but the water was electrified. His wrist was cut before he was killed."

"So the killer wanted us to know he did it. Removing the tools is a common trait, I think they left the cord so that we knew how Tee was killed. The method and slashed wrist are new." Rythian paused. "I know this sounds suspicious, as it also covers for Zoeya, but it think it was the same murderer. Also, before you ask, I don't have enough magical energy to recreate this scene as well. Come tomorrow I'll be able to."

"I agree, I'm sure it was the same person. Right now, the main similarity is a suicide-like death." Lalna paused. "I'm ninety-nine point nine nine percent sure Zoeya is innocent, Rythian. It's just procedure that makes me check."

"I'm still one up. I'm point zero one percent more certain." Rythian muttered. "What do you need help with?"

Lalna looked suddenly down at the ground, embarrassed. "It all had to do with magic. Go back to Zoeya, I'll be there to question her as soon as I confirm this as part of my case and can put Trudy and Rickman on the task of collecting evidence." He paused. "I'll be as gentle with the questions as I can, but no matter how much a question upsets her, I need her to answer so that I can prove that she's innocent, alright?"

"I already know that." Rythian replied, walking away from the corpse of his friend, feeling more numb than sad.

Kim let him straight in. The detective was clearly good at this part of the job, because Zoeya had stopped crying. "Lalna said he'd be here soon." Rythian told the lieutenant's partner.

"Good. I'll wait here, okay?"

"Fine." He got to Zoeya, who looked up at him with watery blue eyes.

"They have to treat me like a suspect, don't they?" Rythian's voice died. He couldn't lie to her, again, but he wasn't allowed to confirm that.

And what had brought that up again?

"Yes, I'm afraid we do." Kim replied, sparing the mage the lie. "To be frank, Zoeya, we aren't treating you like a suspect, you _are_ a suspect."

The girl paled, and the tears started flowing again. "I didn't kill him," she cried. "Why would I kill him? Why would I kill Teep? Why would they think I would kill Teep?" Helplessly, she looked up at the mage, who didn't have an answer, or at least didn't have one that wouldn't just annoy the detective.

"I don't know." He muttered quietly, and Kim nodded in approval. "But they have to check."

Recognition dawned on Zoeya's face. "You knew!" She sobbed, looking horrified. "You knew and you didn't tell me!"

"To be fair," Kim began, "Lalna gave Rythian three rules to follow if he wanted to be allowed to come here for you, and one of them was that he couldn't tell you that you were a suspect. Don't blame him, you're the one who wanted him here."

That wasn't the right thing to say. Zoeya was already upset, and the new information wasn't helping. "You told me that the police couldn't have stopped you from coming, but they can make you lie to me? You told me I wasn't in any trouble for having found Tee, and that they only wanted to know about how I had found him!" The girl jumped to her feet, seeming fiery and angry now, but still just mostly upset.

"Zoeya-" Rythian's girlfriend cut him off.

"Don't! Just, don't bother, Rythian. I don't even know why I'm surprised. It's not like you lying to me is a new thing." She walked off towards the door of the bedroom. "Let's go get this interview done. I don't require any form of representation. I'll do it alone."

Rythian sighed, and though he was looking at Kim, he spoke to Zoeya. "You can reach me on my cell if you need me." And he walked out.

**A/N Oh, my poor ship. Ouch. This is what I get for fucking around two chapters ago and writing so much fluff. Now you get this. Have fun!**

**Okay, this one isn't direct, but try the myth of Salmoneus, when the king pretended to be Zeus and got electrocuted. If you can't find it online, pm me or something to yell at me and I'll figure something out. **

**Did I refer to Sparkles* as his username? Yes. GhostofSparkles*!**

**I read too much In Death. I'm sorry. **

**-CloseToSomethingReal **

**PATRICIDE! I can't seem to sleep. THE GUILT INSIDE! I can't stay awake.**

**~Area 11, Knightmare/Frame**


	11. Chapter 11

**CORPSE. Chapter 11**

**We swam among the northern lights, and hid beyond the edge of night, I'm waiting for the dawn to come sing a song to save us all**  
**-Thirty Seconds To Mars, Northern Lights**

**A/N I'm actually sorry about the last chapter. That bit with the fight was never supposed to happen. It just did. So HAHA!**  
**-CloseToSomethingReal**

Lalna was mildly concerned by what he had missed when Rythian left apartment before Zoeya had been interviewed. The blond tried to talk to the brunet, but he just ignored the lieutenant.

A few minutes later, he was seated in the dining room area with Zoeya and Kim, preparing the recorder. Zoeya had no representation, and was very aware and upset that she was a suspect.

"I'm a vegetarian, I can't even imagine an animal having to die for me to eat!" She protested, tears shining in her eyes. "How would I manage to kill Tee?"

Kim sat down next to the red haired girl while Lalna fiddled with the recorder, which didn't seem to want to turn on.

"Zoeya, no one said you killed Tee, in fact Lalna, myself and Ryth- err, sorry, both Lalna and myself thinks quite the opposite, we just have to interview you to be sure, okay? If you want, it's not to late to get representation, if you don't trust us not to trick you into saying something condemning." Lalna winced, but thankfully Zoeya shook her head.

"Also, if you're worried, Rythian-" Kim cut him off.

"It'll be fine, Zoeya. Mostly, we do just need to know how you found him and why you were here, okay?"

The lieutenant sighed. "I feel like I'm missing something."

Zoeya just wiped her eyes and sniffled. "No, I don't want Rythian to come back. And I'm sorry for being a pain."

"We've dealt with much worse, I promise." Lalna replied. "So far you haven't asked for a lawyer. Therefore, you made my day! I hate lawyers." Frustrated, he smacked the recorded and it beeped to say it was on.

"Oh, fuck off! I just have to abuse these things to get them to work? Alright, Zoeya, I didn't arrest you, so I never read you the Miranda, but since I'm interviewing you do have to know your rights. I'll make them less formal though. You don't have to answer if you don't feel comfortable, but the more you answer, the more likely we can prove you're innocent fast, okay? You can asked for representation at any point during this interview." He pressed record on the little machine. "Alright. Lividcoffee, lieutenant Lalna, conducting an interview with miss Zoeya Proasheck, who discovered the body of another victims. My assistant, Detective Nanosounds, is present. Zoeya has waived her right to an attorney, correct?"

"Right." Zoeya agreed, suddenly subdued now that the recorder was on.

"Alright, Zoeya, can you tell me what happened? How'd you find Teep?" Lalna asked, trying to make his words gentle.

"I- We- I, was coming over to visit. We'd worked it out ages ago, back before Rythian was always busy," she didn't sound happy when she said Rythian's name. "Anyways, I knocked on the door, even though Tee always told me to just let myself in, and he didn't open the door, so I tried my key but the door was unlocked. I walked in, and I could see that the bathroom light was on and the door was wide open, so I called a few times, figuring if Tee was just using the bathroom or something it would give him a warning that I was coming in. There wasn't an answer, but Tee's mute so I wasn't expecting one, as he talks through sign language. Anyways, I walked in, and he was under the water, with his wrist cut-" she cut herself off with a small sob. "I panicked. I called for an ambulance, but the police arrived first, and sent the ambulance and firemen away, and then the detective told me Tee was dead, and Officer Rickman brought me to the bedroom, away from the body, since I'd gone back to the bathroom. I still don't know how he died."

"Thank goodness you didn't touch the water. Teep was electrocuted, I believe the police officers figured that out by the soaked, frayed cord that was sitting beside the bath." Lalna explained softly. "Okay, next question: how well did you know Teep?"

Zoeya paused. "Fairly well. We went to the same high school, and dated through grade eleven, and managed to stay friends even after we split. Now, we come visit every week or so. We being Rythian and I."

"I'm assuming you hadn't had any reason to wish Teep harm, right?" Zoeya's eyes got a hurt and defensive look in them when he asked that, but it had to be asked.

"No, I didn't. Tee and I had been getting along the same as ever." She said, sadness tainting her voice again.

"I'm going to need to know where you were before coming here, Zoeya."

"At a clients house, I left at about ten." She said immediately.

"Who were the clients?"

She thought about it for a second. "Melinda and Arthur McCloud. They're the ones who want to put flowers everywhere, it's ridiculous."

"Okay. This interview is concluded." Lalna stopped recording. "You can go now, Zoeya, but we may need to talk to you again, okay?"

The redhead nodded and left the room. "So what the hell happened between those two? I left you three alone for two minutes, and suddenly Rythian's a name you don't want to mention without dying?"

"It's your fault." Kim replied. "Though it made sense for you to do. The rules you made. Rythian slipped up and admitted that he knew Zoeya was a suspect when she asked me, and he'd already lied and told her she wasn't really. She got pretty upset, apparently he hasn't been the most honest person lately."

"Oh shit. I'm gonna avoid calling Rythian for a while, he's gonna be pissed at me." Lalna swore, feeling slightly guilty. He hadn't meant to cause a fight between the couple.

"They'll work it out." Kim muttered. "Anyways, you need to go report again, with the new murder and all."

"Fuck." Lalna swore. "I hate reports."

"I know you do, so do I, that's why I make you do them. So, let's address our suspect list, you can pay for lunch so that I owe you for breakfast again and can save your ass, and then you can do that." Kim suggested, smirking slightly.

"What're we eating?" He asked, as he hadn't eaten since six-thirty, and it was now eleven-thirty.

"You're skipping steps, Lalna. Suspect list. Zoeya, Parv, Kogie, Leo, who else?" Lalna sighed.

"I really hate that Zoeya's our suspect." He admitted.

"Hey," the black haired girl started, "as long as we can clear her for Sparkles* and make sure these are the same murderer, she'll be fine. But for now, we should leave those two alone."

"Agreed. Anyways, I have no idea who another suspect is. Someone who had something against both Teep and Sparkles*."

"I've got nothing." Kim admitted, looking at the sheets. "I would honestly have to say, from that perspective, it looks like two killers. However, any number of people we know could have done it. They would know both Teep and Sparkles*. I'm thinking, check the band again, and go through the lists of people those two would regularly spend time with."

"That's most of our group of friends, Kim." Lalna muttered. "The band is number one. We haven't talked to them yet, only Rythian has. And Teep's neighbours, we should talk to them as well. From what we saw of the first scene, maybe it was an assassination. We can check to see if those two have been into something they shouldn't have."

"Of course." Kim agreed. "Now that you've done that, we can think about lunch." She smiled. "What can you afford?"

"Nothing, but I'll manage burgers or some other cheap fast food crap." Lalna offered.

"Can we go to a place that sells noodles?" Kim asked.

"Fine by me! I like noodles." Lalna agreed.

Twenty minutes later, they were in Lalna's beat-up car, eating noodles. "If you eat them fast, you almost don't notice how much grease is on them!" Kim remarked.

"That's true. Anyways, what was step three?" Lalna asked between mouthfuls of the greasy food.

Kim chuckled. "You get to make another report, while I go talk to Teep's neighbours."

"Fuck I hate step three." Lalna swore. "This whole case pisses me off, Kim. Why was that guy so calm about it?" The lieutenant had changed the subject, but he had brought up a better one anyways.

"I have no idea. Duty? Purpose?" The blond shook his head.

"I've killed in the line of duty before, and you heard Rythian. You don't get to be that calm. You're… you're playing Notch, Kim. You're playing god. That's what killing is." The black haired girl sighed.

"Then this guy has a serious god complex." She offered. "Lalna, I can't relate to this! I've never killed anyone."

"Count yourself lucky." The feeling of squeezing the trigger was coming back to Lalna, watching the bodies jerk as the bullets tore through them, and the lieutenant felt mildly ill.

"Anyways, we're at the station! Report time!" Kim teased. Lalna groaned.

"I have to talk to him again?" He complained. "And by the way, Rythian said I'm right. The commander isn't human."

"What the hell do you mean?" Kim asked incredulously. "How isn't he human?"

Lalna shuddered. "The same way Rythian isn't human, but Ryth's not sure what he is, whereas we know Rythian's an endermage."

Kim burst out laughing. "You're kidding me!"

"No Kim, I'm dead serious."

**A/N Guys, if I ever say 911, that's my country's number for the police/ambulance/firemen etc. I would give examples but the only other one I know is the UK's, and that's 111 I believe?**  
**-CloseToSomethingReal**

**We are wild, we are like young volcanoes.**  
**-Fall Out Boy, Young Volcanoes**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N lol on my grand scheme of things, a fight between Rythian and Zoeya was always there, but in the end, it worked out better than I thought it was going to. Now, for my other reason for giving them a cat! (I should have just had them hire a psychiatrist)**

**-CloseToSomethingReal**

**I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I'm close to something real, I wanna find something I've wanted all along, somewhere I belong**

**-Linkin Park, Somewhere I Belong (See where I got my new pen name from?)**

Rythian was lying on the bed, the cat on his stomach. "I fucked up, Barry." He muttered. The cat's golden eyes were wide, but obviously he didn't seem to be listening.

"You think I'm a lunatic, don't you?" Rythian sighed, rubbing behind cat's ears and coaxing a purr out of him. "I don't think you're right though. I think I'm an idiot."

Barry meowed, stood up, walked around a bit on the mage's stomach, and curled up in a ball again. "I just… I wish I could take it all back." Regret burned in his chest, filling his lungs and threatening to drown him, mixing with guilt and creating a sludge of horrible feelings that filled Rythian to the brim with something close to misery.

Rythian stared at the ceiling, running the words over and over again in his mind. Zoeya was right. All he seemed to do lately was lie, all to try to protect her, but only ever hurting her. Why? Why?

Why?

Though he didn't expect it to, Rythian kept hoping his phone would ring, even if Zoeya just called to yell at him. It was better than silence. The silence was stifling, it put distance between the two there wasn't room for. Silence helped emotion smother senses and leave someone confused and helpless and drowning in an ocean of their own feelings.

If only the phone would ring.

But the only sound was the cat's purring, which eventually died away when his owner stopped petting him.

He really had fucked this one up.

And there was nothing he could do at this point but wait and see what Zoeya did. Waiting in silence and misery.

He didn't hear the girl walk in, but Barry did, and hopped off of Rythian's stomach to go greet her.

He didn't say anything, though he figured out who it would be walking in.

"Rythian? Are you in here?" Zoeya called, not sounding particularly angry. She'd calmed down a fair bit since her interview. He heard her purse hit the ground, which meant she had uncharacteristically not hung it on a hook in the doorway. "Rythian?"

Rythian sighed and sat up. "Yes Zoeya?"

"Oh you're in the bedroom!" Footsteps pattered into the bedroom, the redhead appeared in the doorway. "You look terrible." Zoeya remarked, walking in and sitting down next to her boyfriend.

"I don't feel much better." Rythian admitted. "Listen, I'm sorry about this afternoon. You're right. I shouldn't have lied to you." The words didn't express the actual feelings. They were two simple, too easy to say, too meaningless. But how Rythian said them left them far from empty.

"That's ridiculous, and we both know it. I can't ask you to disobey the police in order to avoid lying to me." Zoeya scoffed. "I was upset, and I took it out on you. But I'll say it again. Try to avoid lying to me."

Rythian sighed. "I don't want to lie to you." He muttered, wrapping an arm around Zoeya's shoulder and pulling her close. "I just- I always want to protect you, and I always just end up hurting you with a lie."

"Whatever. We're wasting time with this, it's like crying over spilled milk." Zoeya said impatiently. She has no patience for these sorts of talks.

"No, we did need to have this talk. You know this by now, Zo, it doesn't work when we try to ignore these problems." Rythian told her. They'd learned this over a few arguments they'd refused to solve, that had just gotten bigger and bigger until they'd blown up in the young couple's faces.

Not something that Rythian would like to see repeated anytime soon.

Zoeya closed her eyes, leaned up against Rythian's side, and was silent long enough that Rythian thought she might be sleeping. "I know. I just hate these talks. I'm sorry I got upset with you, especially since it's not like I've never lied to you before."

"And I'm sorry for lying." Rythian quite honestly didn't like these talks either, and smiled, since that was enough discussion on that. He tickled her ribs a little bit.

"Rythie!" Zoeya squeaked, trying to move out of the way of his hand. "That tickles!" She protested, already giggling.

"That is the point." Rythian pointed out, continuing to tickle his girlfriend. She kept giggling, falling back onto the bed, trying to escape the tickles.

"Stop it!" She cried, not able to help herself but to laugh. "Rythie!"

"Why should I stop, Zo?" He asked, grinning. He pinned her to the bed, still tickling her sides. "And you shouldn't have laid down."

"Cuz it tickles!" Zoeya cried, trying to push his hands away. "Stop!" She sounded so helpless, but to the point that it was funny, not pitiable.

"I don't want to." Her boyfriend told her, not listening to her at all.

"I'll make you!" She warned, though she didn't sound very threatening through her bursts of crazy laughter.

"Really?" Rythian mused, pretending to humour her. "How're you going to do that?"

"Like this!" She replied, reaching up (he hadn't pinned her torso to the bed, just her legs) to suddenly pull Rythian's mask off and pull him into a kiss, and a very distracting one at that.

He stopped tickling.

"You win." He managed when she pulled away, and rolled onto his back to free Zoeya's legs and lay next to her. She giggled.

"Of course I do!" Zoeya said knowingly. "I know how to win. You don't have to have a good strategy, you just have to have to right strategy."

"Fair enough. Just no using that one on other people, okay? I might have to get jealous." The purple eyed man warned.

"Alright." Zoeya agreed, smiling. "No matter how tempting it is." She added, just to bug him.

"Oh really? Who else has been tickling you that you've been tempted to kiss to get them to stop?" Rythian asked, not concerned in the least.

"Oh, I don't know. There's too many." Zoeya giggled.

"Right. I believe that." Rythian chuckled.

"No, not at all." Zoeya admitted, dropping her joke. "You know I wouldn't."

"Of course." The cat, clearly realizing that the tense mood had left his owners, jumped up on the bed between the couple. Barry was purring before either Zoeya or Rythian touched him.

"Hello, Barry!" Zoeya said, smiling and petting the cat. The brown tabby's purring grew louder.

"He's such a suck." The brunet remarked, laughing at the cat. Barry just kept purring like a well-tuned motor.

Barry curled up into a small, furry ball, in between Rythian and Zoeya. He sneezed, then rested his gaze accusingly on Rythian.

"Am I in trouble for not petting you?" The mage asked, reaching over and rubbing the cat's head. Barry stopped glaring at Rythian, seeming content.

"Even the cat doesn't want us to fight." Zoeya remarked, voice soft.

"Yep. Even tickle fights." Rythian added. "We can't get away with anything, with Barry around."

"Other than the tickle fights part, I agree with the cat." Zoeya muttered, eyelids drooping.

"I'll second that." The mage agreed, chuckling slightly. "Are you tired already, Zoeya? It's only three o'clock."

"I've had a long day. I think I deserve a nap." She murmured in replied, eyes closing. Rythian shifted to be closer to her, accidentally disturbing the cat, who stood up and left, tail raised indignantly.

"That sounds about right." He agreed, closing his own eyes and drifting off to sleep.

His own nightmares didn't wake him, but Zoeya's did. She was sobbing quietly, but not quietly enough for Rythian not to hear. "Zo?" He said worriedly, sitting up slightly to look at the girl.

"Sorry, Rythie." She muttered through tears. Her face was streaked and red, and Rythian felt bad for having slept through her crying for that long. "I-I can't close my eyes. All I can see is Tee."

He had known that was coming. He'd had a sinking feeling it would happened. After all, he hadn't slept well after his mother had been killed, and quite honestly, he hadn't slept well after killing his father, either. He sat up fully, and brushed tears away from Zoeya's eyes.

"It's alright, Zo. It's going to hurt for a while. But you need to sleep." He muttered, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"I can't. I-I just can't, Rythie." Zoeya cried, nuzzling into his neck, and he could feel the wetness of her tears against his skin. "Why Teep? Why Sparkles*? Why would someone do that? Who would do that?"

Rythian pulled Zoeya into a tight embrace. "That's what Lalna, Kim and I are going to find out." He promised. "We aren't going to let them get away with it."

He barely heard her next response. "But it won't bring Tee or Sparkles* back."

"No. It won't. But it'll stop it from happening to anyone else. Don't you think they'd want that?" He said softly, though there weren't many things to say that could take the sting away from the deaths.

"I'm scared, Rythian." Zoeya admitted. "I'm really scared. What if something happens to you next? What if something had happened on your way home, and I never got to take back what I said? I'm scared." She repeated.

"Nothing happened to me, Zo. I'm sitting right here, completely fine, except for the back of my head, which Lalna bashed on the ground when he tackled me the other day." Rythian said patiently, trying to get her to calm down. He could feel the fear and pain rolling off of her in waves.

"That's not the point, Rythie! Something could have happened to you!" She insisted, clearly working herself up.

"Anything could happen to anyone, it doesn't matter what they were doing. Nothing happened to me, and I'm going to help figure out what happened to Teep and Sparkles*. Just relax, Zoeya." Rythian said calmly, trying to coax the girl to relax enough to take the nap she had wanted.

She sighed. "I know. It's just hard, Rythian. Hard to accept."

"I know it's hard, Zo. But you have to let go." Rythian insisted. He knew quite well what she was talking about. He had seen what had happened when her mother had died, and before that, her father. Death was hard to accept.

Zoeya sniffled, and wiped more tears from her eyes. "I just don't understand why someone would kill them." She explained, trying to describe how her heart was feeling.

"I get it, Zo. If took me a while to understand as well." Rythian thought about his own experience with death. It never came easy. Death was a black wave, stealing loved ones away, sweeping them off into its great black current until they were gone, and you couldn't find them again.

"But you've killed before, Rythian. Surely you understand better than some." Though she knew why, and didn't blame him, Zoeya had never quite grown used to the fact that the man she loved had been capable of murder at the age of sixteen. Never really forgiven that.

Rythian understood that too, and didn't blame Zoeya. "Maybe. I couldn't see myself doing it again, but for maybe one thing. This person is willing to kill more than once, seemingly without reason. I don't think that way."

Zoeya was staring at him. "What would you kill for now?" She asked, sounding worried.

"Who would I kill for, is more like it. And the answer is, it's you. I won't let anyone hurt you. I'd rather deal with the murder." Rythian muttered, knowing Zoeya wouldn't not appreciate that. She didn't like that idea of people getting hurt.

But she didn't really protest. "I guess we would all kill for those we love."

**A/N that seems sentimental enough to leave you guys on. Have fun!**

**I wanna see what your insides look like, I bet you're not that pretty on the inside.**

**-My Chemical Romance, Bury Me In Black**


	13. Chapter 13

**Corpse 13- publish!**

**If there's something left to be learned, then my time is running, why**

**should I waste it on, waste it on you?**

**-All Time Low, To Live And Let Go**

**A/N I'm back! Did ya miss me?**

Kim shook Lalna's shoulders, quite roughly. "Lieutenant!" She called, and the groggy police officer lifted his head, yawning. "You need an hour? I'm sure you can authorize yourself to take an hour in the crib," she offered.

"No, I need to go fuck up my report," Lalna disagreed, yawning again. Kim smiled sympathetically.

"I went and talked to commander Ridgedog for you, shortly after you fell asleep. I take it the case has been keeping you up?" The girl, for once, didn't sound scornful.

"Great Notch, Kim, I could kiss you right now. Thank you, so much," Lalna said happily, blinking sleep from his eyes, "and yeah. It's been keeping me up. And it will again now. I didn't know Teep as well as I knew Sparkles*, but I still knew him. And I've gotta think of how to prove Zoeya's innocent, because I know she is. On second thought, I'm 99.99 percent sure. I set up an appointment for nine o'clock tomorrow with Dr. Hector, by the way."

Kim nodded. "I know how you feel. But she's not clear yet, so she needs to be treated like a suspect. Are you going to manage to talk to that man and his weird-ass assistant civilly?"

"I know. And hopefully. Anyways, any connection among the victims?" Lalna assumed someone would have ran that, while he'd been sleeping. It was sort of embarrassing, really.

Kim glanced at a file that was sitting on the desk. "Yeah. Apparently they used the same bank? But that's it."

"We'll have to talk to the bank," Lalna said sleepily, standing up and stretching, "thanks for letting me sleep a bit, by the way. I'll try not to crash again."

"Get a proper night's sleep tonight," Kim advised, "I'll drive this time. Give me your keys."

Lalna obeyed, handing the detective his keys. She took them, the metal rattling together. House keys, car keys, the spare key to his parent's apartment. He was pretty sure an old bike lock key was still on the ring.

Thankfully, Kim knew which key was for the beat up old car in the police parking lot. "Are you sure you're okay, Lalna? You seem like you might be sick or something."

"Yeah, I'm alright, Kim. I just don't like where this case is taking us," Lalna admitted, "it's… just really close to home. And I haven't really slept these past few days."

Kim looked at the to-go cup in her hand. "I'd offer you some coffee, but I'm almost out, so we'll just stop at a coffee shop really quick, then you might stay awake while we talk to the bank."

"Cool," Lalna agreed, walking out of the dull grey building and across the pavement to the beat-up, rusty blue car that was his, as long as it stayed together.

Kim looked cynically at the car. "I still don't believe you can still drive this," she remarked, unlocking the doors and hopping in the drivers seat, "I think something just gave out when I sat down," she added, pulling the seat forward so that she could actually reach the pedals. The hight different between Lalna and Kim was sort of funny, and she had to move it forward pretty far.

Lalna laughed, climbing into the passenger's seat. "Wow, you had this one forwards!" He complained, pushing the seat back a foot or two. "And I don't know what you're talking about. I can get in that seat without breaking the car, and I'm bigger than you are."

Kim put the key in the ignition, smirking. "I think you just choose to ignore it," Lalna had to admit she was probably right. His car, quite honestly, was falling apart.

They drove to a coffee shop, where Lalna grabbed a quick to-go cup of really strong coffee, and set off for the bank.

The bank was closed and did not want to open for the cops. After Lalna shoved his lieutenant badge in about six people's faces, swore more times than he could bother to count, and all around got pretty mad (mostly due to lack of sleep), they finally agreed to consult with the police officers.

"What do you want, Lieutenant Lividcoffee?" A bored looking man demanded. "What business do you have with us?" He added, flicking a piece of greasy brown hair out of his face.

"Sorry to disturb your day, but I'm just trying to solve a fucking crime, and one of the only ties my two victims is your bank. Are the names Teep Rex and Tom Clarke familiar to you?" Lalna spat, then took a sip of his coffee. He really needed to calm down.

"No. I'm the manager here, I don't remember all my clients names. You would have to speak to a teller," the man replied, oddly nasal voice flat and annoyed, "and they aren't here, because today is their day off."

"Oh, for Notch's sake!" Lalna cursed. "Good. What days are you open?"

"Any days except Mondays and Sundays," the manager replied promptly, "which means, if I'm of no use to you, you can leave and return tomorrow."

"Fine. I will see one of your tellers bright and early tomorrow morning." Lalna snapped. Nanosounds sighed.

"Thank you for your time, sir," she muttered, the calm in the storm. Lividcoffee glared at her for it, but it probably improved the air of the conversation.

"Come on, lieutenant," the woman said, grabbing his arm rather roughly and dragging him out of the bank, "go home, eat something, and get a proper night's sleep like I've been telling you lately," she ordered, hoping in the driver's seat.

"You know I won't," he warned, and yawned.

"So help me, I'll make you," Kim warned, "we all know how that ended last time. I locked you in the bedroom and left."

"Fine," Lalna agreed, yawning again, "I'm acting like an ass, aren't I?"

"That you are," Kim replied, turning the key, "you're lucky I'm used to it by now."

"Yeah, I am," the cop nodded, eyelids already dropping. His coffee high had not lasted long.

"I'm not carrying you out of this car," Kim warned, frowning at the lieutenant. Lalna forced his emerald green eyes back open.

"Nanosounds, is it just me, or is this the longest Monday ever?" He asked, yawning.

"Maybe if you didn't really sleep last night," the girl laughed, pulling out of the bank's parking lot, "which you didn't."

"When I woke up, my coffee was cold, that means I slept for a decent amount of sleep," that was bullshit and he knew it.

"That's not how it works," Nanosounds said with a sigh, "I know it's only five, but I'm literally going to get to your house, help you make supper so that you don't have takeout again, or just skip the meal, and make sure you go to sleep."

"I've changed my mind. I don't think I'm going to argue with that plan," Lividcoffee agreed, yawning again.

"Good. Mostly because I wasn't going to argue with you. It's not an option." Nano laughed, flooring it when she realized one of the traffic cops was behind her, just trying to annoy him. Lalna saw a person stick out the middle finger in the review mirror.

"That was fun," Nano laughed, "I wonder why he's over here though."

"Who knows?" Lalna yawned, and the detective reached over and punched his arm.

"No sleeping!" She ordered, glaring at the lieutenant.

"You're mean, Nano," Lalna whined, "I just want to sleep. I'm tired!"

Nano snorted. "Yeah, I'm mean. Have you met me? I told you, you're not sleeping until I get you home and you eat something."

"Fine. Are we almost there?"

"Not even close." Kim replied. "Okay, actually, we're pretty close. Do you have any food for for human consumption in your apartment?" She asked, pulling in front of some person going at least ten below the speed limit. Drivers sometimes.

"Yes? I think so? I haven't checked lately." Lalna replied, blinking and forcing his eyes to focus.

Kim smiled and pulled into the parking lot to Lalna's apartment. "I'll find something, or drag you on a shopping trip."

"Great." The lieutenant agreed. "Exactly what I want to do right now. Go shopping."

"No, you want sleep, I'm just going to drag you with me. So you'd better hope that you have food that I can cook. Lettuce and chicken will do, I can make a salad."

"I think I have lettuce? Maybe?" Lalna confirmed. "And I should have some form of chicken."

"Excellent. You may be lucky. Out of the car, lieutenant." Kim prodded, and Lalna sighed and open the door, wincing as rust crumbled under his fingers when he touched the frame.

"I really hope there's chicken and lettuce somewhere in here..." he admitted, reaching into his pocket for his keys before remembering they weren't there.

"I have them, remember?" NanoSounds called, rattling the keys together to get his attention.

"Yeah, I'm just too tired to focus on that fact."

Kim snorted, running up to the glass doors of the apartment and waving at Lalna's neighbor, who smiled at the two. They were thankfully in too much of a rush to bother trying to have a conversation with the blond.

Another blessing: Lalna's apartment was on the first floor. And close to the entrance. Kim unlocked the doors while Lalna hoped and prayed that he had some form of food that the detective could use to cook.

Detective NanoSounds went straight to the fridge, scoping out what was left in there. "Not bad, it's not as gross as I thought it might be." She credited, throwing a molded plastic bag full of something at the garbage can. "Ignoring that." She added, pulling out a few more items and placing them on the counter. "I'd ask for your help, but knowing you, you'd cut your finger off."

"In this state? Probably." Lalna admitted, deciding he would take the time to clear out his fridge and find what sorts of gross, old food and such were still in it from ages ago.

Several plastic bags full of mold and containers full of more mold later, the lieutenant had a lot more room in his fridge, and it looked a lot cleaner.

Meanwhile, Kim made a quick salad and fried up some chicken, even managing to find a salad dressing in his fridge. The popping of oil on the frying pan and the smell of actual home-cooked food, rather than the grease and salt he'd been eating lately, served to wake him up a bit better.

The detective dished the food onto two plates, not even worrying about making it look nice, and both ate ravenously. It wasn't very healthy to get by primarily on missed meals and takeout, both knew it, but they still did it.

Kim added a step to Lalna's schedule, threatening to lock him in the bathroom until he took as shower. He didn't protest much, knowing he did need one. He let hot water run through his hair and pound down his back at full pressure, letting it relax his muscles and wash days-old filth off of his body.

While he did that, NanoSounds cleaned up the kitchen, running the dishwasher and cleaning a few things by hand, such as the frying pan. She was fairly used to showing up here and getting everything in order every week or so, knowing that even if he had the will to do it, Lalna was too distracted to remember to keep this place clean and tidy. She might have vacuumed but didn't feel like it, and while the bathroom probably needed to be cleaned, Lalna was in there right now.

Lalna was still in the shower when the detective decided she'd get started on the laundry, grabbing a book and shoving a few stray articles of dirty clothes off the floor into the half-full laundry basket before leaving a note and walking to the laundry room to get them clean. No one was there, so she quickly got the clothes into a machine and set the dial for max, not wanting to know when Lalna had last done laundry.

She read through a few pages of the book before putting it down in favour of playing a game on her phone, which took a lot less brain power.

By the time she walked back up into Lalna's apartment with a basket full of clean and folded clothes, the lieutenant was passed out in bed, buried deep in the blankets. She smiled and went to leave, before remembering she didn't have her car.

"Shit." She was stuck here overnight, it seemed.

Lalna opened his eyes, still looking exhausted. "Just c'm'ere." He muttered. NanoSounds was taken aback, but decided they both were too tired to cause any funny business and complied, closing the door to block out any light before slipping out of her own clothes and into one of Lalna's t-shirts, which was huge on her. She then crawled into the bed, under the warm, soft blankets, and closed her eyes, shocked to feel the lieutenant's arms wrap tightly around her small frame just seconds later, though she didn't complain.

"No one finds out." She muttered. LividCoffee didn't respond, he was asleep again, face buried in her black hair. She sighed and closed her eyes, wondering what exactly this meant, made less clear by the fact that they were not only sleeping in the same bed, which meant next to nothing, but Lalna was cuddling her and she had no will to protest against it.

She'd figure it out in the morning. She was tired and it wasn't like it wasn't nice. And Lalna was rather warm, which made it more nice. Nano closed her eyes and fell asleep.

**This is your fate, Mr. Jones, my dear, Said the Devil to dear Mr. Jones. You'll be loved by the millions and great at your task, but no one will see who is under the mask**

**-Aurelio Voltaire, The Devil And Mr. Jones**


	14. Chapter 14

Corpse 14

The world is cold the bold men take action, have to react to get blown into fractions.

-Linkin Park, Hands Held High

Despite their talk that afternoon, Rythian had been up half the night trying to get Zoeya to sleep for longer than an hour or so, reading out loud because she said it helped, until his voice was hoarse and he could no longer focus on the words, black letters swimming and dancing on the page.

That had happened at four o'clock in the morning, when he'd finally put the book down and passed out. He was unsure how Zoeya had fared after that, but she'd left a note on the fridge apologizing and thanking him, saying she'd gone to work, but might be home early.

It was eight-thirty now, eggs were sizzling on a pan since toast and coffee was not going to cut it today, the phone was ringing, and someone was knocking at the door.

Rythian answered the phone, it was Lalna. "I've got a probably very angry neighbour who would have heard screaming last night from Zoeya at the door, can I put you on hold? Also, I've been up half the night and just about lost my voice from reading that whole time, out loud, trying to calm her down, so do not expect miracles." His voice was a lot quieter than even normal.

"Alright, that's fine." Rythian put the phone down and went to answer the door, bare feet padding against the stone tile flooring.

"Mr. Enderborn!" Sure enough, it was his bitchy neighbour. "What on earth were you doing last night, I could hear you from my house!" She complained.

"Zoeya found the dead body of a good friend and, needless to say, couldn't sleep well. That sort of thing is a good starter for nightmares. Now, I was up until four, kindly fuck off." He slammed the door in her stunned face. In the back of his mind, something told him there was another thing wrong with the situation, but couldn't place it.

"That felt good." He remarked, walking back to the phone. "What's wrong, Lalna?"

"Can you come pick Kim up? She needs to get to her house to grab some stuff and I have an appointment that if I don't leave now I'm going to be late for, and the person it's with is not going to be happy if I'm late." Lalna explained. He sounded embarrassed.

Rythian had to laugh. "Kim's at your place, is she? Interesting…"

"Oh, shut up, Rythian!"

The mage heard Kim's outraged call of "I told you not to tell anyone!" In the background.

"I have to get someone to pick you up so you can get some clean clothes!" Lalna protested.

"You know, you could just have her leave some of hers-" the lieutenant cut him off.

"Shut up!"

"Sorry. Anyways, if you deem me alert enough to drive, mr police officer, then I'll be right there." Rythian promised. "Where is your apartment?"

"You're alert enough, because I don't have time to argue. My apartment is 506 Cobble Road, Kim will be waiting outside." Lalna replied.

"Alright. Wait. I don't have the car. Zoeya does. Or maybe she took a taxi, which would be smart. Give me a second to check." The Enderborn ran out to the garage, happy to see the car was there. "Alright, I'll be there soon. The car is still here."

"Good." Lalna hung up the phone and Rythian went to go pull his eggs off the frying pan.

The eggs were a little burnt, but they'd do. The Mage put them on a plate and grabbed a fork, placing them on a small end table while he threw on his coat and went to leave when he realized he should leave a note for Zoeya, and had to run back to the kitchen for a pen and paper.

Later than he would have liked, as he'd claimed he'd be there soon, Rythian was in his and Zoeya's small black car, a plate of eggs in his lap, headed for Cobble Road. He'd have tried to eat some of his breakfast, but traffic sucked and he couldn't afford to be distracted.

The apartment block was nice enough, but as Kim wasn't waiting outside, Rythian got to guess which door to go through to find her. It only took him three tries to find the small detective, wearing clothes that had quite obviously been left on the floor all night.

"If you didn't have clothes at Lalna's, what did you wear all night?" Rythian teased.

"A t-shirt. And shove it up your ass, Rythian. It was an accident. I drove Lalna back and left my car at the station. So I'll need you to drive me there, too." Kim admitted.

"Fine, but you're driving. Traffic sucks and I have food in the car to eat." Rythian warned, handing her the keys.

"Your car won't fall apart on me, right? Lalna's seems like it might." She admitted, taking the keys, which rattled together with the few other on the loop.

"It shouldn't, as it's pretty new." The Mage replied, walking back to the small car and hopping in the passenger's seat.

"You didn't lock the doors." Kim remarked.

"Yeah, and I drove here without my seatbelt as well. Going to charge me?" Rythian laughed, though he did up the belt this time, grabbing his plate of eggs of the dash.

"Your insurance is null in void if you don't even lock the doors." The detective warned. "I might be a homicide cop but I know that."

"Oops. Come on, let's go, since I'm stuck with you until you get back to the station." Rythian encouraged.

"Yeah. So, how late were you up last night? Lalna just said you'd be tired, that's all."

"Four o'clock." He replied, yawning and taking a bite of his eggs.

"Alright. You're aware you don't have your mask, right?" He shot the detective a look.

"Yeah, I'm not that tired. I know because it feels weird, but I can't wear it when I'm eating. Oh, shit. Never mind. I forgot about that when I opened the door and snapped at the neighbour. Fuck." Rythian pointed out, taking another bite of his eggs. Nano started the car and drove off for her own apartment. "So. How did you end up at Lalna's? Exactly? If you tell me I'll stop bugging you about it."

"You know, most people become grumpy when they're tired. How come you've become all chatty?" Kim asked irritably. "And forgetful, too. I already told you. Also, I doubt your neighbour will even remember."

"I'm normally sort of grumpy, so it wouldn't change when I was exhausted. I still use the excuse to snap at people though, like my neighbour." Rythian suggested. "And I don't know why I'm forgetful."

"I drove Lalna home because he was just about ready to fall asleep, made supper so he didn't eat takeout again, and did some laundry after forcing him to take a shower. When I got back, he was asleep, and I couldn't force him to drive me to the station to get my car, so I just stayed the night." The detective replied, rolling her eyes.

Rythian nodded, and having finished his eggs while she spoke, he put the plate back up on the dash, leaning back in the passenger's seat.

"You're surprisingly cheerful for a man who just lost of friend." Kim remarked, more conversationally than anything.

"I'm tired as fuck, that's what causing this all." Rythian pointed out. "It'll sink in sometime around noon, after I've gone home and taken a nap."

Kim nodded. "Hard to feel emotions when you can't focus on anything. How well did you know Teep?"

"I feel like this is an inappropriate time for this. My judgement is compromised." Rythian protested.

"I'm just curious, Rythian. You were with us during the murder. We're pretty sure, at least. Where were you before you showed up yesterday?" NanoSounds asked, knowing she did need an alibi for him.

"I don't remember right now. I was either at home, or around somewhere. I didn't talk to anybody, there goes my alibi." Rythian admitted.

"Whatever. We're pretty sure the cases are connected, and you and Zoeya are alibied out of the first one. Now, how well did you know Teep?" Nano pressed.

"Not as well as Zoeya. Of course, that makes sense, I didn't date him through high school." Rythian replied. "Zoeya introduced us, as they'd realized they made better friends than a couple, and had stayed that way." He paused. "We were good friends, I'd say. Zoeya used to get all flustered because we'd jokingly start swapping stories about her."

Kim giggled. "You didn't! That's so mean!" She exclaimed, turning onto a main drag.

"Just to bug her, mostly." Rythian chuckled.

"That's still so rude, Rythian!" Kim protested.

"It was all in good fun, Kim. We'd have stopped if she asked us to." The Endermage assured her, half-closing his eyes.

"I'm just destined to be around men that are half-asleep lately, aren't I?" Kim muttered. The mage didn't respond, and the detective drove as quickly as she could to the police station, figuring she should just go pick up her car and then head back to her house, and get herself out of Rythian's hair.

She pulled into the parking lot fifteen minutes later, and Rythian was all but asleep in the passenger's seat. She shook his shoulder, hoping she didn't spook him. "We're here."

He nodded, opening his startlingly pale eyes and unclipping his seatbelt. "Well, sorry I made you drive yourself here." He told her, pulling open the door and stepping out. She did the same, handing him his keys.

"Don't worry about it. If you hadn't let me get out of there, I would have had to go with Lalna to a meeting with Dr. Hector in rumpled clothing." Kim told him.

"Dr. Hector?" Rythian repeated, the name was familiar, but where from?

"A behavioural analyst. He's a real big jerk though." Detective NanoSounds explained. "And his assistant is only slightly better. They were going for coffee in hopes of making the meeting a little less hostile."

The Endermage suddenly recalled where he knew the name from. "Interesting. Anyways, you head home and get cleaned up, and I'll get back home to see how Zoeya's faring." Rythian told her, hopping into the drivers seat and pushing the keys into the ignition. Kim ran over to her own car as Rythian clicked his seatbelt into place and closed the door, firing up the car and pulling out of the parking lot.

Zoeya was home. She was sitting on the couch, staring at the floor.

"How long have you been here, Zo?" Rythian asked, walking over to her and sitting down.

"Since around when you let. I didn't text you, you were busy." Zoeya said in a quiet voice. "I'm gonna miss him, Rythie."

"We both will. He was a good friend." Rythian assured her. "But all we can do now is figure out who did it, and put them away."

Zoeya sighed, leaning against his side. "That's not enough, Rythie. We can't change what happened."

"We never will." Rythian said bluntly. "There's nothing that can bring Teep back, or Sparkles*, for that matter. But we can stop the murderer."

Zoeya sniffled and nodded. "I wanna talk to him again…"

"Zoeya…" Rythian didn't have a reassuring answer for that. "A lot of us would."

"You're going to… find who did it, right?" The girl knew he would. But she couldn't help but ask.

"Of course. I'm not going to stop searching until I do."

"Okay." Zoeya muttered gratefully.

Just then, Barry decided it was time to hop up on the bed and demand attention. Zoeya smiled slightly and patted the cat, who started purring immediately. "We both should get some sleep, shouldn't we…?" She muttered.

"If you can." Rythian agreed, he was exhausted and that didn't sound like a bad plan to him.

"We'll see. You get some sleep." Zoeya instructed, getting to her feet and walking to the bedroom. The cat followed her, not wanting to give up the attention he was receiving.

Rythian smirked, laying out on the couch and grabbing his book.

The mage rapidly found that he needed something to submerse himself in, as well. Lalna text him saying not to worry about coming in, they'd deal without the recreation and he needed to rest, but Rythian refused it. He needed something else to think about.

"Zoeya?" The girl was still awake. "I'm going back to help Lalna, okay love?" He went and sat next to her on the bed. "Will you be alright?"

The girl sighed. "Probably."

"Text me if you aren't." Rythian advised, leaning down and giving her a quick kiss.

"Alright… have fun with Lalna."

"Always."

It's harder than you think telling dreams from one another

And you thought the lions were bad, but they tried to kill my brothers

-Bastille, Daniel In The Den


	15. Chapter 15

**For the art, I will sing most anything, we are worlds apart, I can do it all.**

**-Area 11, Panacea and The Prelogue**

** Hey nerds! Guess what, I'm not dead! I'm baaaack! And playing Pokémon GO! like every other nerd my age. My dad hates it; my mom wants to play it. It's great.**

"Listen, asshole-"

"If you want our help, you'd better be polite!" Five snapped. Her boss smirked from his seat behind her.

"Fine. Can you do it, or not?" Lalna demanded. "Without the snarky answer from Five."

"I imagine I could," Lalnable Hector mused, a smirk at Lalna's frustration fixed on his face.

"So will you?"

"Perhaps."

"Would you stop with the-"

"Keep it down over there or I'll throw you out!" The person who was obviously in charge of the cafe shouted.

"Fine. I'll call you when I'm ready. I have a lot of cases to work on though, so it could be a while." The blond's smirk only grew with his words. He was enjoying this. Enjoying Lalna's anger.

And it was only irritating the lieutenant even more. How dare he be so smug? There were lives on the line at this point.

But Lalnable Hector, with his rather... killer instincts and murderous tendencies, didn't care about that. Death fascinated him. Why not wait on a case so he could see more brutal forms of murder?

And Five was no better, with her narrowed, pale eyes and pursed, angry lips, half a second away from another scathing remark.

"A lot of homicide cases that are growing in numbers of deceased rapidly?" Lalna challenged.

"Yes. Thankfully for everyone's sake, you are not the only homicide police in the station," Five spat. "If you don't like our waiting list, go to someone else!"

"Call me when you're ready." Lalna flagged a waitress, paid the check and stormed out.

Kim was waiting for him when he got to the station. "What was last night about?"

"Would you have preferred sleep on the couch?" Lalna asked her.

"No, that was fine. I meant..."

"I was tired. Sorry," He looked down. "It won't happen again." He looked a little shamefaced, but only because he was being questioned.

"It wouldn't anyways; I doubt I'll be staying at your apartment again for a while. I mean, we made it through a few years without it." She sighed. "Anyways, how was your meeting?"

"Shitty. I really hate those two." Lalna complained. "So fucking self-righteous."

"They know he's the best analyst we have." Kim muttered, rolling her eyes.

"And they know that they can stall and people will still go to them." Lalna agreed. "So fucking annoying."

"Stall? When are we getting our analysis done?" Kim demanded.

"Whenever they finish it."

"Notch damn those two. They'll likely be late because they're screwing around in their office," Kim growled.

"Or just screwing in their office," The lieutenant sneered. "There are too many closets and such on that floor for them not to be taking advantage of it."

"Only they could get away with that. How many other people get to hire their girlfriend as a personal assistant?" Kim agreed. "Anyways, now we just sound jealous. It doesn't matter. They get away with murder. What are we going to do about it?"

"Nothing. The commander is his best friend. Let's go talk to that bank," Lalna decided with a heavy sigh.

"Hooray. Angry bankers," Kim said unenthusiastically.

"Better than pissy behavioral analysts and snarky assistants," Lalna remarked.

"You may have a point there," The detective agreed.

"Of course I do, I just talked to the bastards!" The lieutenant groaned. "Fuck me."

"No thanks," Kim replied with a sigh. "Let's go."

"Sounds fair to me," Lalna agreed, grabbing his keys and heading out of his and Kim's office. The detective wasn't far behind.

"You drive. I don't want you to have a way to blame me if your car breaks down," Kim warned, standing by the passenger's side door until Lalna unlocked the doors.

"My car is fine!" Lalna protested, hopping in the front seat and putting the key in the ignition, trying hard not to listen to the creaking and groaning and snapping of the steel frame beneath him. Kim just cocked an eyebrow. "Really! It's not like you ever suggest taking your car, anyways."

"Fine. Let's take my car," The detective smirked, closing the door to the rust bucket in front of them. Lalna climbed out and locked it again. "And eat your heart out." She led the way to a shiny, red sports model in the parking lot. Lalna had seen it often; there was a running bet as to whom it belonged to in the office.

"That's _yours_? You've been holding out on me, Kim!" Lalna complained.

"I'm an only child, my parents dote on me," the detective explained. "I didn't want you guys to know about it. It was a 'congratulations' when I made the rank of detective," she blushed, unlocking the doors and hopping into the passenger's seat. "You want to drive? You can, as long as you don't tell anyone its mine. It feels weird being known as the spoiled kid, especially now that I'm an adult."

Lalna gave her a lopsided grin and took the keys, opening the driver's door and settling into the smooth, off-white leather seat. "Gee Kim, you drive a hard bargain," He laughed, slipping the key into the ignition and turning it. The engine turned once and began purring like a kitten. "Holy fuck…"

Kim smiled. Her earlier smug attitude, with her call of 'eat your heart out' had vanished. "It is pretty nice, I'll be honest. My dad helps me tune it up, since he's been teaching me about cars since I was five."

"This is so much more than just nice, Kim," Lalna told her. "This is a _dream,_" he added with a smile.

"She's even better if you put her in drive and go." the detective informed him. "That's a V8 you're hearing."

"I could get in so much trouble with this car…" Lalna admitted.

"It's registered to my parents, so please don't," Kim told him. "Now come on. Are you going to drive my car or burn gas?" She asked, smirking.

"Drive. Right," Lalna agreed. "Actually it would probably be reverse that I need."

"Shut up and drive or I'll make you ride along," Kim threatened, and Lalna dropped the car in reverse rather quickly. The engine continued to purr as he backed out of the parking spot.

"Oh…" He'd barely let the engine rev and he was already in a rather euphoric state.

Kim giggled. "You look like you're about to have an orgasm!"

"Cargasm, I guess," Lalna laughed, shifting into drive and hitting the gas.

Kim let him drive carefully for a few minutes to get a feel for the engine, then sighed and turned to him. "Are you going to drive my car or insult it? Take the expressway to the bank."

Lalna smirked and pulled into the nearest exit for the expressway. "I was obeying the speed limit."

"You were pussyfooting," Kim complained.

"You drive on the way back!" Lalna told her.

"Fine. Someone has to teach you how to drive a sports car. You're driving ten clicks under the speed limit." Kim informed him.

"Oh," Lalna got on the gas a little harder. Kim reached over him and pressed a button.

"It's not raining, why not? Pull over," Lalna complied immediately. Kim laughed as the top rolled off and the breeze started rippling through the car.

"Your parents got you a convertible sports car?" Lalna asked, stunned.

"Yeah. I have a hard top for it for the winter; my dad helps me put this on every spring." The detective explained.

"Sheesh. I need parents like yours," Lalna decided.

"I'm sure yours are fine," NanoSounds told him.

"My dad is dead and my mother doesn't speak to me," Lalna admitted. "She hasn't been civil with me since I joined the academy."

"Oh. I'm sorry…" the woman muttered. "There's the turnoff for the road the bank is on."

Lalna pulled into it without a word. He shouldn't have told her. It would only make her feel bad. "Ignore that, Kim. It's one hell of a nice car," He praised. "And well maintained."

"Thank you. And I'm sorry about your family," Kim told him as he pulled into the bank's parking lot. "Now let's go see that teller."

"Sounds like fun," Kim agreed, hopping out of the car and fitting her badge onto the necklace she wore it on sometimes. It clinked with the blue stone, a sapphire, which Lalna had bought her to celebrate the day she'd passed her test and made the rank of detective.

She'd been somewhat down. As a detective, she wouldn't have to be partnered with a lieutenant. They wouldn't be working together anymore.

Of course, she hadn't known that Lalna had talked to Ridgedog and convinced him to let them be officially partners. He'd told her when he gave her the pendant.

She'd been just as excited as him. They wouldn't be separated.

"Great," Lalna followed her, and they stepped into the bank and ran into the manager. "Oh, fuck, not you again," The lieutenant groaned. "We need to talk to your tellers about Mr. Tom Clarke and Mr. Teep Rex."

"It would be me you need to speak to, Mr…?" A woman told him.

"Lieutenant LividCoffee, and detective NanoSounds," Lalna replied. "We need to talk to you about some of your clients."

"All information is strictly confidential, sir," the woman admitted softly.

"The clients are both deceased. I can get a warrant under probable cause, if need be. I need to look into links between the victims," Lalna admitted. "Tom Clarke and Teep Rex."

The woman glanced at the manager. "Just tell him. Go use one of the conference rooms," He decided. The woman nodded and led them into the back.

"So what do you need to know?" She asked. "I'm Lila, by the way."

"Kim," The detective shook Lila's hand. "That's Lalna," She added, motioning to the detective. "We just need to know about Mr. Rex and Mr. Clarke. Were they ever here at the same time?"

"Hard to say. Mr. Rex would send an email when he was coming, Sparkles*- err, Mr. Clarke would just show up," Lila replied. "They didn't seem to talk."

"Had they made any major deposits or transfers lately?" Lalna pressed.

"No… Sparkles* had deposited a check from their sales into the band's bank account…" Lila told them. "Nothing else than regular paychecks."

"Alright," Lalna was about to continue, but his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket.

Rythian's number. Right, he was going to work on the magic angle today. "Hello?"

"Hi. I'm at Teep's apartment, where are you?" The mage asked, sounding a little irritated. "I told you I was going to be here."

"Sorry. Kim and I are talking to the bank. Go get lunch, we'll be there shortly," The blond told him.

"Alright, fine."

Lalna hung up the phone. Kim was still talking to the teller. "Thank you for your time, ma'am," She was saying.

"Oh. We're done?" Lalna realized.

"Yep. Let's go get lunch. Bet we can beat Rythian back," She laughed.

"How'd you know it was Rythian?" Lalna questioned.

"Wild guess," The woman replied. "It was that or dispatch, and you were a lot calmer than you normally are with dispatch."

"Fair enough. Let's go get some lunch. Maybe some deli sandwiches. No takeout," The man decided.

"Sounds pretty fair to me," NanoSounds agreed. "I'll drive this time," she decided.

"Oh sure, so you can school me?"

"How many people would actually listen to the speed limit in a car like that?" She asked with a smirk. "You drove the sports car, I guess. Now I'll teach you how to _drive_ a sports car."

"Alright, let's see it." Lalna smirked at her as they left the bank and climbed back into Kim's cherry red car. "I still can't believe this is yours."

"Most of the time, I really can't either," The woman admitted, hopping in and turning the key. "But once in a while it kicks in and I show it off." She added, turning back towards the expressway. Lalna grinned as she opened up the engine.

"This is where you get your knack for getting speeding tickets from," Lalna realized.

"Guilty as charged," NanoSounds admitted with a giggle. "If you've got a car like this… you need to drive it, not insult it."

"That's true," Lalna agreed.

"Says the man who insulted it the whole way to the bank," Kim teased, pulling into a deli. "Don't be a hypocrite."

"Fine, fine."

The deli sandwiches were slimy, but still better than takeout for the hundredth time. Kim and Lalna decided that given how close to the house they were, they had time to sit in the quaint little building and eat indoors.

"There's no connection from the bank. So far, I can't tell who would want them dead. It can't be a serial killer, they have nothing in common," Kim expressed.

"That we can tell. That's what Lalnable's supposed to find. And analyze the killer. But he's taking his sweet-ass time," Lalna pointed out.

"Jerk," Nano complained. "Lives are on the line!"

"He likes that idea," Lalna muttered. "He likes the power it gives him."

"I wish we could get him fired," Kim complained. "But for now, we wait."

"We should get to Teep's apartment," Lalna decided, throwing his garbage away and heading over to the door.

"Alright, alright. Let's get out of here."


	16. Chapter 16

**So we walk these streets unknown, our bodies and the silver just a loan, I'm sorry that I let you down, let you down a lifetime ago**

**~Area 11, Panacea And The Prelogue**

** Alright, I'm probably going to be around more often now. I got a laptop for my birthday. So hurray!**

Rythian was impatient. He'd been waiting here for ages. He'd arranged with Lalna to meet almost an hour earlier.

Maybe he should have listened and gone out for lunch. They were clearly taking their time.

So he sat on the living room couch where he and Teep and Zoeya had sat and talked for ages, tracing words that stuck around like the afterglow of sparklers that children played with, but in purple.

Always purple. The magic was a bonus, but always purple. Always cursed. People thought red was bad. Blood magic was red. Blood was red. In children's cartoons, the bad guys had red eyes. Even a child like he'd been, beaten and deprived, knew red was supposed to be bad.

But purple. A mix of blue and red. A calm color. Blue was good, red was bad.

But red always cursed. Diluted or not. It had its last hurrah. The mask, everything. The magic was turning his fingers numb. He didn't have the magic to waste.

Red was bad, purple was a curse. He dropped the faint semblance of a spell he was holding with a sigh. "Shit."

That explained why his fingers were numb. He'd had more of a spell than he'd thought; he'd burned the words into the couch. Zoeya's name, Teep's name, a few questions.

And the word curse. Over and over and over again.

Frustrated, he summoned the magic again and burned away the words, leaving a handprint in its place.

"You know you could have just destroyed evidence, right Rythian?" Lalna warned, stepping into the apartment.

"Sorry. I got distracted," Rythian muttered. "I hope I didn't."

"I doubt you did. What's up?" Kim asked, immediately looking concerned. "Are you alright? Is Zoeya alright?"  
"As alright as we're going to be for a while. It's not about Teep," Rythian replied. "Anyways, you needed the spell cast, right?" He got to his feet, started pulling at the bandages on his hands.

"Yes, but it can wait. What's up, Rythian?" Kim pressed.

"Nothing of importance," The mage replied with a sigh, finally getting the wrappings off his hands. "It'll be fine. Just… I was just thinking."

That was the best way to put it. Thinking.

"You always were broody," Lalna decided. Rythian knew he was right, so he didn't argue. He just walked over to the crime scene.

"Time of the crime would be… two-thirty. It's not precise, but we can get one by looking at a clock once I cast the spell," He decided, closing his eyes and starting the spell.

He could hear Kim and Lalna whispering about him, trying to work out what was wrong. They wouldn't guess it though. His problem was the magic. But they didn't know that. They didn't know that the magic was cursed.

"There. It's working," The mage muttered. He sighed, watching the purple ghosts appear and feeling the telltale wave of exhaustion roll in, but this time it was enough to make him lean on Teep's counter, seconds from collapsing, the familiar purple lighting letting him know that his eyes were glowing again.

"Rythian?" NanoSounds raced to his side, clearly worried now that their concerns had been backed up.

"Watch the apparition! I can't do it again," Rythian ordered weakly. Kim stepped away to watch what was happening.

"It's just Teep. Are you sure you got the right time?" Lalna asked.

"Just keep watching…" Rythian told him, still fighting to stay on his feet. "Fucking End magic…"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kim asked worriedly.

"Yes. Keep watching," Doing that spell while lacking in sleep had clearly been a bad idea. Now he was doubly wiped.

"Okay, there's the killer," Lalna realized. "You got it right," He conceded.

"I knew I did," Rythian replied, gritting his teeth. "That fucking hurt."

"What do you mean, hurt?" Lalna asked.

"Magic has a cost, Lalna. It always has a cost," Rythian replied. "Now watch. Two-thirty-five… killer…"

"He shocked Teep to keep him still while he filled up the tub," Lalna realized. "We did notice that wound, to be fair."

"Teep didn't stand a chance," Kim remarked. "He didn't even see the killer."

"No kidding," Rythian agreed. "It's the same meticulous, business-like approach as earlier. Nothing extra. They filled the tub, cut the cable, put Teep in the water, and cut his wrist…" The scene blurred for a moment as the mage's vision tunneled and he fell to his knees. "Fuck…" Kim raced to his side.

"Rythian?"

"Keep watching!" He snapped. "The killer has already cut Teep's wrist. Looks like he kept some," Rythian's lip curled in disgust. "A blood mage would do that."

"Or it's a trophy to keep," Lalna suggested.

"Could be," Rythian conceded. "Anyways, then they plugged in the cable, dropped it in the water, waited until Teep was dead, and pulled the cable out."

"Done," Lalna muttered. "Nothing more than necessary."

"It's fucking weird," Rythian decided, biting his lip.

"It's pissing me off." NanoSounds decided. "It's like he thinks this is a job!"

"Maybe it is for him. Maybe he's being paid." Rythian suggested, furrowing his brow as he tried to think of a reason. "You handle death like a job, it is your job. He, or she, handles this like a job too."

"So you think they're an assassin." Kim realized.

"I'm throwing it out there." Rythian explained. "I mean… it's possible."

"True." Lalna agreed. "Now seriously. What happened back there?"

Rythian bit his lip. He didn't want to talk about it. "Spell took a bit more than I thought it would." He muttered, trying his best to evade the question.

"Rythian. Seriously."

"Did you think magic was easy? Painless? Priceless?" Rythian asked, and then going silent.

"No… but what happened?" Lalna demanded.

"I wore myself out, what does it look like?" Rythian said irritably. "Welcome to magic one-o-one. Unless you can take it from someone or something else, the cost of magic comes out of the caster. Namely, me."

"Pardon?"

"Magic takes energy. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed. So, the energy the spell needs was taken from me." Rythian explained.

"I do witchery. I wouldn't know about internal cost." Kim explained.

"Your alter does it for you." Rythian explained. "It's a good deal."

"Kim, you're a witch?" Lalna questioned, stunned.

"Yeah."

"Like… with the symbols and-" he stopped when Kim pushed her sleeve up, exposing some runes, moon symbols, star signs and other such things drawn on her skin.

"Yeah, The whole deal. I'm not very far into it, but I can make curses and summon demons and stuff." Kim replied with a grin.

"I feel like I should have known this."

"Well, you didn't." Kim laughed. "Deal with it."

"Have you ever cursed me?" Lalna questioned worriedly.

"It's been tempting, but no." Kim replied. "You're safe." She promised with a wicked smirk. "For now."

"Kim!" Lalna protested, looking pretty scared. "Rythian, can't you help?"

"Of course I'll help Kim find a really good curse to use on you!" Rythian answered.

"Rythian!" Lalna groaned. "You're into witchery too?"

"I dabbled in a lot of magics when I was younger, Lalna. Now I stick to End magic."

"I'm not even surprised." Kim decided. "Anyways, yes Lalna, I'm a witch. But I don't have a wart on my nose or anything like that. Just pen on my arms."

"Permanent marker works better." Rythian remarked.

"That's actually a good point." Kim agreed. "I'll give it a shot. My signs keep rubbing off."

"I'm just gonna interrupt here, you being a witch is both insanely cool and insanely scary." Lalna admitted.

Kim smirked. "Keep geeking out like that and I'll turn you into a toad, lieutenant." She joked. Lalna shut up, fast. She giggled. "Anyways, I think we get what happened to Rythian now. He ran out of essence in the alter. Or juice in the battery. Or coffee in the lieutenant LividCoffee."

"I'll have you know, Kim, I've only drank three cups today."

"How the fuck are you still so tall?" She complained. "And that's not healthy. At all. You're a genuine caffeine addict."

"Am not!" Lalna protested.

"Are to!" Kim retorted. "You're totally a caffeine addict."

"Am not!"

"Ar-"

"Enough!" Rythian complained. "You're driving me crazy." He declared.

"Is it hard?"

"Anyways… point is, we've got some problems. Our killer is fucked up and our analyst won't get his ass in gear."

"So what can we do until your analyst gets on this?" Rythian pressed, rolling his eyes.

"Well… talk to Teep's neighbors, try and figure out who the next possible victims are," Kim replied with a sigh.

"Busy work. Doing what we can without the asshole," Lalna replied. "Annoying fuck of an analyst."

"The next possible victims are us, Kim. Everyone we know. First Sparkles*, now Teep, who next? Martyn? Sips? Honeydew?" Rythian pointed out.

"Fair point. What do we tell the media, Lieutenant? We can only avoid Strippin for so long, you know."

"We tell them who's dead, and that we're pursuing all leads. The usual bullshit."

"This is me we're talking about, lieutenant." Strippin called, knocking on the door. "I've got a job to keep, that won't help me."

"That's your problem, Strippin. I give you too much and the commander will have my job." Lalna replied. "Come in, I won't keep you out anyways."

"Tell me what Rythian's doing here. Give me an easy statement, but it's gotta have something in it." Strippin pressed. "Please."

"Fine," Lalna said with a sigh. "But turn the fucking record off. You can quote me, you can't record what I say."

Strippin bit his lip, and nodded. "Fine." He pulled a pen and paper out of his bag. "Go on."

"Fine. Rythian's here because he's got some skills to help us solve the case and collect more evidence."

"With magic." Strippin inferred.

"No comment," Rythian interrupted. "I know that's my right, Mr. Reporter," The mage complained.

"Fair enough," Strippin replied with a grin. "Continue, Lalna."

"Anyways, we're following up as many leads as we can find right now, and pinning down some suspects," Lalna finished. "That good enough?"

Strippin frowned. "It'll do."

He was clearly disappointed. Lalna didn't seem to care. Strippin left the room.

"Well that was interesting."

"He's normally pushier. He's got something already," NanoSounds predicted.

"Yeah, she's got a point." Lalna agreed with a sigh. "Great. RidgeDog's not going to be happy with us."

Lalna's phone beeped. "Fuck."

They could only guess it was dispatch, and it had only been a day since last time. It was getting worse.

"Hello?"

"Lieutenant? We need you on scene in front of the ClearWater Hotel. pronto."

"What happened?"

"Another murder. Victim can't be identified."

"Why not?" Lalna demanded, a little confused.

"The body's chopped to pieces. Really small pieces," The dispatcher replied. "Just hurry down. Apparently it's mahem."

"On it." Lalna assured them, hanging up the phone. "Let's go."

Rythian sighed. "I can-"

"No. You just told us you'd used too much magic lately. We'll drive," Lalna decided. "Right Nano?"

"I have my own car," Rythian told them.

"Let's just take mine, it's got sirens and lights and it's faster and Lalna clearly wants to drive it again." Kim decided, throwing him the keys.

"Fuck yeah I want to drive that again! We need something to cheer us up before seeing a gruesome crime scene."

Rythian wasn't really paying attention. Who was it? It was one of them, but who? Had Zoeya left the house? What if it was her? He grabbed his phone and dialled her number.

"Rythie? What's up?" She asked quietly.

"Thank Notch you're okay…" The mage breathed. "Nothing's up, it okay, I was worried about you."

"There's been another murder, I know that. It's in the news," Zoeya muttered.

"Alright, alright. I was worried you might have the victim."

"I was about to call you too… are you going to the scene?" Zoeya asked quietly.

"Yes I am."

"Be careful… be home for supper…" The redhead pleaded softly.

"Will do."

This was going to be interesting.

**This chapter took forever I'm really sorry guys.**

**~CloseToSomethingReal**

**All the people say 'you can't wake up, this is not a dream, you're part of a machine, you are not a human being'**

**With your face all made-up, living on a screen. Low on self-esteem so you run on gasoline.**

**~Halsey, Gasoline**


	17. Chapter 17

Corpse 17

**Okay… I changed some ages in the story. I'll go through and update later, but for now… just add like a general +8 years to everyone. Sorry, but something I wrote for later didn't work with these guys being like… 25-26, cuz I had other characters to include and they couldn't be that young with the stories I was giving and let this be a lesson, kids, **_**always plan your stories before you write them and **__**don't FUCKING change that even to add your favorite FUCKING characters ever! Agh!**_** Anyways sorry for the inconvenience, I believe this puts Rythian and Zoeya at 32 and Kim and Lalna at 33? **_**Just line 'em up with Five and Lalnable okay? I'm sorry.**_

**GORE ALERT BTW!**

**Turn away, if you could get me a drink, of water cuz my lips are chapped and faded call my aunt Marie, help her gather all my things, and bury me in all my favorite colors**

**~My Chemical Romance, Cancer/Twenty-Øne Piløts**

Lalna couldn't blame Rythian for immediately calling Zoeya. He was worried to know who the body was too.

_Chopped to pieces._ Great Notch. That was brutal, and finally outside of the suicide-like murders.

So did it even fit into his case? It didn't really matter.

Rythian glanced up suddenly. "Zoeya's favorite subject was history. Or rather, mythology. These all have mythological backgrounds. Specifically Greek. She just texted me about it."

"Pardon?"

"They're all Greek deaths. The rope, not so much, but plenty of people were suffocated, the electrocution she said linked to Zeus and Salmoneus, and the one we haven't seen yet fits with what Kronos to Ouranos, or Zeus to Kronos," Rythian explained. "It's all mythological."

"Your girlfriend is better and faster than our analyst. So this is ours. Great," Lalna groaned. "I don't even think driving your car's gonna cover this one, Kim."

"Do you still want the keys?" Kim asked.

There was a pause. "Yes."

"Figures." He already had the keys, of course. They headed out to her car. Rythian seemed to smirk.

"I see how this at least improves the shit we're about to see."

"You want shotgun? I drive the thing every day," Kim offered.

"If you're going to offer," Rythian agreed, hopping in the passenger's seat. Lalna slid into the driver's seat and turned the key. Kim jumped into the backseat.

"Alright, now actually drive the fucking car, Lalna," Kim ordered. "Don't insult it."

"Of course." The lieutenant purred, knocking it into gear and taking off like a shot. After studying the dash for a moment or two, Rythian flicked on the lights and sirens.

Halfway there, Kim groaned. "This is going to give away that this is my car…" She realized.

"I can park away from the scene, but then we'll have to run. We should be there by now. Rythian's phone call wasted time. Not that I blame you for making it, and Zoeya's analogy was a good one. But we did take time we didn't have," Lalna decided.

"Just pull up to the scene. Anyone who wants a ride can fuck themselves anyways," Kim decided. "So they can all just sit and drool until one of us tells them to get the fuck back to work."

"I knew there was a reason I liked you!" Lalna laughed. "You've got one hell of a spark."

"Other than the fact that I actually know how to clean and take pity on you once in a while and clean your apartment?" Detective NanoSounds retorted, pulling out her sapphire and badge necklace again. Lalna did the old-fashioned thing and clipped his to his shirt. "And I always have a spark. Mostly with you."

"Rythian, stay very close to us. You don't actually have any clearance at all," He warned. "And you have a point, Kim."

"Of course I do!" Kim laughed, and Rythian nodded. He already knew that.

"Okay, here we go," Lalna muttered, biting his lip.

The area was already staked out with yellow crime scene tape. Everything smelled awful. The stench never really got easier to bear. Rythian held a hand over his nose. "Great Notch…"

There was blood everywhere. Splattered all over the concrete, and far more gore decorating the street and sidewalk as well. He caught a glimpse of brown hair, possibly a finger, or what was left of it, a few teeth, some bones.

Rythian was muttering a spell. "It's Sjin," He realized, jaw clenching. "I… I shouldn't be here. Until you know a time of death."

The mage had motive to do this to Sjin. "Rythian, just stay here. Don't do anything suspicious, and help us out. This wouldn't have gone unnoticed for long; you were with us when the body was dumped. There. And you're not stupid enough to tell me if you did it."

Maybe not true. He had admitted what he'd done to his father. But it shut him up. "So you think its Sjin," Lalna repeated.

"I know its Sjin."

"Great. We've got an ID!" The lieutenant yelled, catching some attention from the other officers on the scene.

"How?"

"Consultant has some extra talents," Lalna replied. "Don't question me, just accept it. I know its right."

"So who's the victim?" The officer asked.

"Sjin Chili," Lalna replied. The officer scribbled down the name.

"So, who's scanning for evidence?"

"Trudy and Rickman. Same as earlier."

"Notch I owe them some coffee. And a meal." Lalna muttered. "Have they got anything?"

"Nothing but body parts, lieutenant…" Officer Rickman called, getting up off her knees, blood streaking her forehead, a few deep burgundy stripes against her darkish skin which was the colour of creamed coffee. She'd clearly pushed her hair out of her face before remembering what she was sorting through.

"Sorry. We need to start cleaning up here. This is a mess, we can't leave it on the street," Lalna decided. "We're going to have to scan for evidence while we…"

"Bag the pieces," Detective Trudy muttered. "Get some fucking gloves on and help us, lieutenant. You too, detective. And why the fuck not, the consultant can help us too, there's a shit-ton of stuff to clean up, as many hands as we can get will help."

A detective couldn't give orders to a lieutenant, of course. But he was right. Lalna sighed, and grabbed three pairs of gloves. "I hope you're not partial to your clothes, Rythian. I'd lose the white coat," He recommended.

The mage didn't argue, pulling off his coat and pulling on some gloves.

This was going to be fun. Cleaning up small pieces of Sjin. Goodness knew what the lieutenant ended up throwing in that body bag. He didn't want to think about it. It was disgusting.

Kim took it the worse. He was pretty sure her bathroom break had ended in her throwing up, but she wouldn't admit it.

She looked pale though, the dark birthmark a spot that spread across the side of her cheek, stood out like a beacon.

She'd had make-up on to cover it this morning, she'd probably washed it off splashing her face with water, which by unfortunate mistakes of the pictures on the doors of washrooms, Lalna did know she did after she'd been sick.

Okay, it hadn't been an accident. It had been the detective's first body find and he'd given a quick warning and walked in to check on her. Thankfully, unlike men's washrooms, women's had stalls for everything. So no one accused him of peeping.

He wished she wouldn't cover the spot. It wasn't very big, and she didn't like it, but Lalna thought it looked pretty. It set her apart well, in a nice way.

But it was her face, not his, so what say did he have?

"Next time dispatch calls you, remind me that regardless of the time or if she's working, I have a date with Zoeya, okay?" Rythian muttered. "Good luck finding a time of death. I can potentially get you the time the body was dropped, but I highly doubt the killer actually killed him here."

"Will do," Lalna agreed. "That seems to be the entirety of the body…"

"I haven't got anything left here…" Officer Rickman agreed, pulling her gloves off and zipping up the body bag.

"Great," Lalna pulled his gloves off and threw them in the garbage. "Those are gross."

"No kidding…" Nano agreed, still looking sick. "That was awful…"

"No way of telling if blood was taken from this one," Rythian remarked. "Not unless we find the murder scene."

"That's just great. So if this is the same killer, the fucker got smarter," Kim realized.

"It appears so," Lalna agreed. "Or just more fucked up than normal."

"Both," Rythian decided.

"I think it's time to go home," Nano declared. "Lalna, I'll give you a ride back to the station, and Rythian back to the house." Kim announced. "Do you two need rides?" She asked Trudy and Rickman.

"We've got a cruiser car we need to get back to the station." Trudy replied.

"Suit yourself," NanoSounds replied.

Lalna waited until they had cleared the scene to confront his detective about her condition. "Are you feeling alright?"

"You figured that out then. Yeah, I'm okay, just a little surprised, to say the least. It made me a bit queasy."

"Are you okay?" Lalna asked her, looking concerned.

"I am now… that was one hell of a shock…" NanoSounds muttered.

"You know you washed off your make-up, right?"

"Does it bother you?"

"No. I know you're particular about it though," Lalna replied with a sigh. "Doesn't bother me at all."

"Good. I forgot my bag in the car, or I would have fixed it…" Kim explained, rubbing her cheek self-consciously. "Does it look bad?"

"Not at all. Just a little different."

"Thanks Lal…" The detective smiled a little, hopping in the driver's seat of her car. "First stop, Teep's house."

Lalna smiled and hopped in the seat next to hers. He wished she was a little more confident on that matter. Everything else, she was great. Her own image… not so much.

"Alright, now show us all how to drive this thing. I know you weren't impressed with my driving again," Lalna prompted. Kim's slightly downcast mood vanished and turn the keys.

Knocked the car into drive.

Pushed her foot onto the pedal.

The car purred and took off like a shot. Kim laughed and headed for the freeway…

Only to hear sirens behind her. She glanced down at her speedometer. "I'm not even over the limit yet!" She complained, pulling over to the side of the road.

But when the cops walked up to them, it was just Trudy and Rickman. "This is your car, detective?" Rickman said in disbelief.

"Yeah, and keep quiet about it," NanoSounds replied.

"Cool!" Rickman said with a grin. "It's a sweet ride, detective."

"I know it is. Hop in with Rythian in the back and you'll find out properly."

Trudy went to argue, but Rickman grinned. "Order from a superior officer! I can't argue!" She said with a grin. "Have fun bringing the cruiser back!" She slid into the back seat.

Trudy sighed and hopped into the cop car.

And Nano floored it, since she knew the only police officer around wasn't going to pull her over, and it was fun when she had people in the car with her. Especially officer Rickman, who cheered and helped Nano pester poor Trudy while they drove away.

"So how'd you get this thing, NanoSounds?" Rickman asked.

"My parents." The detective replied. "They really like me."

"Clearly."

"I'm an only child." Kim explained, pulling up in front of the restaurant.

"Thanks Kim." Rythian said with a smile, hopping out of the car and walking over to his own.

"No problem." Kim replied, waving and driving off towards the deli, where Lalna's car was waiting. The blond sighed.

"This thing is so much more fun than mine." He remarked.

"Then get a new car!" The woman taunted, pulling her car up in front of his so the lieutenant could get out. "See ya later!" She called.

"Bye NanoSounds!"

"Bye lieutenant! Get some rest!"

"You know I won't!"

"So help me, lieutenant…"

"See ya!"

**And that's all for now, folks! Catch you next time! Sjin's last name is fudged btw, it's just because I didn't want to use Sykes.**

**I want you, to give me what I need, lay waste to your belief, rebuild yourself for me**

**~Area 11, The Contract**


	18. Chapter 18

**Love me cancerously, like a salt-sore soaked in the sea, high maintenance means you're a gluttonous queen, narcissistic and mean**

**~Ludo, Love Me Dead**

** That's off a playlist for a ship I've mentioned and we'll see more of in this chapter and other stuff. They were not part of the original plan (bc its Echoble and Five didn't even exist when I started writing this) and they're the reason why everyone's ages spiked up by 8 years. **

** Anyways, on with the story! We just found a rather torn up Sjin, onwards towards solving this crime!**

**~CloseToSomethingReal**

Rythian called Zoeya before leaving the house. "Hey love, I'm on my way home." He started, biting his lip. He'd been gone a long time, he should have called her again, more recently.

"Was it bad? You were on the news, you know. Briefly. While you were leaving?" Zoeya asked. "Why are you all bloody?" She sounded strung up and worried, he hated himself for doing this to her.

"The body. Was in pieces. That's why when we got the call from dispatch I called you. The unsub has been going after people we know, and I was scared it might be you and they couldn't identify you." He explained.

"Who was it?"

"Sjin." The endermage replied. "Zo… it's alright…" he breathed. But how could he tell her that when he didn't even believe it? He'd been terrified the whole time as well.

"It could have been you." She said quietly.

"Or you. Or Lalna. Or Kim. Or anyone we know." Rythian reasoned gently. "I'm probably one of the safest, given the fact that who knows where the case will lead me tomorrow. You're doing good too, being that you have appointments at people's houses. We'll be okay." He promised.

"You don't know that…"

"Yes, I do. We'll be okay, Zo. I promise. I'll see you soon, okay love? Bye." He hung up the phone after she said goodbye, still clearly scared.

He drove with the radio off, lost in thought. It could have been her.

Way too easily.

He pulled into the driveway a while later. Zoeya was waiting for him again. "Rythie!" She called, running over to him. "I was so worried…"

"It's alright, it's alright…" Rythian promised. "Now I'm going to go take a shower, I smell like blood." He remarked.

Zoeya pulled him into a hug. "You do smell like blood." She wrinkled her nose and pulled away.

"I told you that." Rythian replied, kissed her, and headed inside. Headed to the bedroom, peeled off his sweaty, bloodstained clothing, tossed it directly into the washing machine and set it for cold. Headed into the bathroom, grabbing a soft, thick towel on the way, and climbed into the shower. Turned the water on as hot as he could stand and just let the water beat into his body.

He was still a little panicked, despite pretending not to be. What if it had been Zoeya? What if he had gotten there and found out it was her spread all over the ground like that?

The shower wasn't helping as much as he had hoped it would. With a sigh, Rythian actually got around to washing his hair and skin, removing the smell of blood, and stepped out of the shower.

Wrapped the towel around his waist, walked back to the bedroom, pulled on a fresh grey tank top and black slacks, picked up his phone.

Dialled Lalna's number.

"And you were bugging me about phone bills!" Came the blond's cheerful response. "What's up, Rythian? Don't tell me it's more girl troubles, I'm really sorry about that by the way…"

"It's… not really…" Rythian began, almost hesitantly. "Look, Lalna, I know you have a massive crush on Kim you aren't that subtle, how the hell do you deal with this?"

"Are you asking a man with no relationship for relationship advice, Rythian? Are you that pathetic?" Lalna snorted, Rythian realized just how pathetic he was being. Lalna wasn't even dating Kim, what had Rythian fallen to in order to have to ask him for advice?

"I'm asking how you deal with the bodies, knowing the next one might be hers, asshole," he snapped, grateful that he was on the phone and Lalna couldn't see his blush.

"Oh. Normally she's with me or on-scene when I get the call, Rythian. And when there's a dangerous situation… I just make sure that I'm the one in it. Not her," Lalna explained. "I don't think Zoeya will let you pull that one."

Not very helpful when Zoeya was an interior designer and would never give that up so that Rythian could keep an eye on her. If anything she'd tell him the solution was stop getting involved with the police, which was barely even an option for Rythian. He did genuinely want to help, when he decided he could be of assistance.

"I know it's hard, trust me, Rythian. But… this one especially, because it's us."

Lalna was right. Sparkles*, Teep and Sjin were all part of the albeit thinly spread, but still present, friend circle that Rythian and apparently Lalna belonged to.

It was a frightening thought. "You just have to have faith in our ability to stop this guy before he hurts Zoeya, Rythian. Oh. By the way, at your earliest convenience, the commander would like to see you. I wouldn't refuse."

And just like that, the subject was changed. "What the hell does the commander want with me?"

"Beats me! Apparently it's above my clearance level," Lalna replied easily. "Anyways, you should get your ass down to the station, pronto. The commander doesn't like to be kept waiting. Trust me."

Rythian sighed. "Thanks for the message, I'll be there in a bit," he decided with obvious reluctance.

"No worries. See you soon. Try to stop worrying, Rythian."

The brunet hung up the phone, walked into the living room to see Zoeya planning something on her tablet. "Love? I've got to go again."

She looked up with round, worries blue eyes. "Why? Was someone else killed? What happened?"

"Nothing serious, the commander wants to talk to me, don't worry," Rythian walked over and kissed her cheek. "With a little luck, I'll be back before you know I'm gone. Nothing to worry about."

"I'm worried."

"I am too, love. But anyways, the commander isn't going to kill me, so don't worry."

Zoeya nodded, Rythian walked out into the garage, fired up the car, and drove back towards the station that he was spending entirely too much time at of late.

The drive there was as boring as the first time, and he'd done it too often in the past couple of days. He pulled into the visitor's sectionnof the parking lot within twenty minutes, parked the car, steeled himself for more interrogation, and walked inside.

He was stopped not ten feet inside the door. "What are you doing here?" A burly man demanded, stepping in front of Rythian and blocking his way to the commander's office.

"I'm here to see the commander," Rythian replied simply.

"And who are you?"

"Rythian Enderborn."

The officer walked over to a desk, dialled up the commander's office. "I have a Rythian here to see you? You're expecting him? Alright then, commander."

The phone was placed back onto it's place on the desk.

"Follow me," The police officer instructed, and headed off to the office Rythian had been in last time.

He was left to fend for himself upon reaching the door. Rythian knocked, a little hesitantly.

"Come in!"

He opened the door.

It was the commander, of course, this time clad in a rich, plum coloured overcoat with gold trimming, a gold-buttoned dress shirt, and clean, tan slacks. His face molded around a slightly bucktoothed grin that made his entire expression look lazy. Not a ginger hair was out of place on his scalp.

He had a nameplate on today. Commander Ridgedog.

He was not the only one in the room today. There were two others, occupying the same chair though there was more than enough room for both of them to have their own in the room.

Probably a couple, or really, really good friends.

The one actually sitting in the chair was a man, and for a second Rythian believed that he was Lalna. However, this one's light, ashy-blond hair was too long, tied up behind his head though the bangs had long since escaped the elastic. They were wavy where Lalna's were fluffy, but it could have had to do with the length. The perfect amount of curl to always look messy clung to them. He had a pair of thin, wire spectacles perched on his nose. His eyes were, startlingly enough, bright red, fringed in long, dark, almost fluffy eyelashes. He had a scruffy beard, like he hadn't bothered to shave in a week or so.

This man, whom Rythian was pretty sure he knew from somewhere, had a pristine white coat on, collar flipped up to cover his neck, a red dress shirt, and tan slacks. His right arm was wrapped around the waist of the woman who was sitting in his lap, cozied up just close enough that she didn't impede him from reading the papers that he held in his right hand. With his left, he munched on crisps out of the bag on the woman's lap.

The woman looked like Kim. Long, silky black hair, almond shaped eyes, fair, seemingly blemish-free skin, though he now knew that Kim had a birthmark, and this woman had purple rose vines tattooed to climb up her arms. She wore green and yellow flowery clips to hold her hair out of her face, a necklace with a large green pendant on it.

Her outfit was fairly simple, a red blouse with golden buttons and hemming, and a light purple skirt. She had white tights on underneath, red flats that proved she didn't spend time in the field. No way would an officer wear such pretty, flimsy shoes. Her nails were painted red, her lips stained the same colour. She had smoky purple eye makeup.

Her eyes were bright and silvery-purple.

The blond looked up from his papers to smile at Rythian. "Hello," he began expectantly.

After a few moments of silence, he frowned. "What, can't you recognize me without a glass of gin or scotch in my hand? I'm insulted, Rythian." The blond popped another crisp into his mouth.

The woman started giggling. Rythian felt a slight tinge of embarrassment. "Do I know you somewhere?"

"Oh, a meeting or two of some sort, one of the kinds that Five likes to tell me I get too drunk at," the blond suggested.

"You do, Lal!" The woman scolded.

"I do not!" The man shot back.

"You do tend to get a little tipsy, Doctor Hector," Ridgedog remarked.

"None of you have ever even seen me tipsy," Doctor Hector protested, rolling his eyes. They were still red, bright and brilliant, though Rythian could have sworn they were darker a few minutes ago.

"What about the time you passed out in the bathroom and cracked your head on the toilet?" Five argued. "I had to drive you to the hospital and you bled all over the back of my car. And threw up in it. I had to pay a fortune to get it cleaned out, and you never payed me back for it."

"Okay, okay, you win. I was very drunk, that one time. But seriously, that's about it. Most of the time I'm too fucking paranoid to get drunk," the blond reminded the other two. "And honestly, our paychecks go into the same account, I technically did pay you back for it."

Rythian glanced at them, between Doctor Hector, Five and the commander. He did know them from somewhere, but still couldn't place where. And this was not the kind of meeting he'd been expecting. He felt out of place.

The doctor caught his awkward glance. "Oh, the commander wouldn't have me in here if this was a serious conversation. I can't even stay serious when we're talking about murder!" He chuckled.

"Only because you're fucking fanatical about death!" Five told him. "These assholes won't tell you, Rythian, you know us from the meetings at town hall. For magic users."

"Oh, that makes sense," Rythian agreed. "So. What am I here for, Ridgedog, if it isn't remotely professional?"

"Well, it kind of is a little professional, just not serious!" Doctor Hector said with a laugh, popping another crisp into his mouth, flipping the page on the document he was reading. "Holy man, this killer reads too many murder mysteries. These are fucking extravagant, but your detectives are idiots, Ridge. All they had to do is find a purchase and track it back. They won't be common," he remarked, tossing the papers onto the desk. "Where do we find these people?"

"Could just be an off-day. Not everything thinks like a criminal and therefor knows how to thwart them, Doctor Hector."

"Pish, I'm not a fucking doctor and you know it," Lalnable scoffed. "Just use Lalnable."

"But you're better than the ones who have the degrees, so just accept it, Lalnable," Ridgedog told him.

"Only with murder. People crimes. I am horrible at analyzing for a robbery," Lalnable reminded them.

"You're still decent enough with assault and such," Ridgedog reminded the blond. "Speaking of…"

"This is about my record, isn't it?" Rythian realized. This one couldn't go down like it had with Lalna. The commander wouldn't ignore a crime.

And Lalnable already knew most of it from the meetings. So if he'd been betrayed…

Lalnable seemed to catch the suspicion. "Confidential, remember? But all I did was point out that innocent people don't clear their records. Which must be why mine was built in this office. You would not be the first criminal that Ridgedog hired, or at least allowed to work with his police. I mean, for one, there's me!" He joked. "And I mean, Five was in to petty crime for a while, too."

"So if you know I'm a criminal, and you're fine with it, why am I here?" Rythian asked. He finally sat down.

"Because, you're going to tell me exactly what it is you did, or I am going to investigate."

"And I'll drop a lead on Lalnable to Lalna. I don't have to do anything,"

Ridgedog looked taken aback. Lalnable started laughing.

"I told you he was smarter than that and you wouldn't fucking listen!" The blond gloated, then, in the blink of an eye, completely deadpanned. As the humour drained from his face, his eyes went dark again. "The confidentiality saved you from having me tell my boss what you did. Break it and tell Lalna what I've done and Ridge will know every little secret you've ever told me," he said, completely straight-faced, flat voice leaving no room for doubt. He would do it.

Rythian gulped. "What did you want to know?"

Another, almost hysterical laugh, though his eyes didn't lighten with it. "Maybe I am really good at this stuff! I knew there had to be a reason why your cops flocked to me for help with crimes!" Lalnable exclaimed. "Read you like a fucking book, Rythian, by the way," he added. "Right down to how quickly you would cave!"

"You are getting less and less friendly compared to how you are at meetings."

Another deadpan expression. "Buy me a bottle of scotch, I get friendlier with every glass," Lalnable suggested. "Until then you deal with an asshole."

Rythian was almost tempted to try and summon a bottle of scotch, but his powers rarely worked like that. "Anyways, fess up! Unless you'd like me to do it for you," Lalnable purred. "You could just give permission, I'll spill the beans, not like it's my life secret or anything, and you can be on your merry way! You were a minor, the case is all but unsolvable now!" He reasoned. He popped another crisp into his mouth, Five snatched the bag away and slapped his hand.

"And you wonder why you're developing a gut!" She teased. "What happened to potentially having an interest in losing some weight, not gaining it?"

She really didn't care if he did or not, but she would make him stick to his own principles.

"You're the one who brought them, that's straight up torture if I'm not allowed to eat them!" Lalnable complained.

Five offered the bag out to Ridgedog and Rythian, who both politely declined, and placed the bag on the floor, out of Lalnable's reach.

"Five, I don't think Lalnable even knows what having a gut his. He's been rail thin for almost all his life, let him gain a little weight," Ridgedog reasoned.

"No, she's right, I did say that," Lalnable agreed, then glanced at his watch. "Shit, I have to be across town in twenty minutes for an appointment with Wilson's victim," he realized, gently pushed Five out of his lap. "Five, you're coming too."

"I am?"

"Yeah," Lalnable confirmed.

"Why?"

"Because I'm meeting an assault victim who was attacked by a middle-aged man, she'll be more comfortable if you're there," Lalnable reminded her.

"Oh. I'll go get my coat," Five ran out of the room.

Lalnable looked back at Rythian and grinned. "Just spit it out, darling, it could literally take one word if you know the term for it!" He laughed, then walked out with Five.

"The sooner you spit it out the sooner I let you go back home."

"Patricide." Rythian blurted finally.

"Because your father killed your mother and beat you."

"Yes."

"Very well. You can go home now."

"That's it?" Rythian gasped.

"Yeah. What? Did you want me to convict you?" Ridgedog asked. "Like I said I just want to know. I can work out why you did it well enough myself."

"Oh. Then I'll go home now." Rythian got up and went to leave the room.

"Oh, and sorry about the other day. Should have guessed you wouldn't take kindly to the invasion." Ridgedog tapped the side of his forehead. "You'd have lost, by the way. Mages always lose to fae."

Rythian nodded. "That explains the superiority complex."

Ridgedog snorted. "Go home, Rythian."

"Yes sir."

Tie a noose around your mind lose enough to breathe fine and tie it, to a tree tell it you belong to me this ain't a noose this is a leash and I've got news for you you must obey me

-Twenty Øne Piløts, Holding On To You

Somewhere in the next few chapters I will follow Lalnable's discussion with the aforementioned victim, I'll put a warning at the beginning of the chapter about the fact that they will be discussing sexual assault. I figured I would warn you beforehand.

I will try not to put information that is pertinent to this plot in it, it would be an opportunity to flesh out Five and Lalnable'c characters and backgrounds.


End file.
